


You’re Dating Who?!

by MissKittyCheshire



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Partners, M/M, Post-Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-04-23 23:20:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19161064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissKittyCheshire/pseuds/MissKittyCheshire
Summary: Harry and Draco have successfully dated for 2 years, and Harry decides that it's time to come clean about it to his friends. Draco, on the other hand, is apprehensive about telling them- and thus the meeting goes quite differently from how either had expected! Post-Hogwarts Drarry! Funny and fluffly, with a twinge of angst and smut.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to my Drarry fic~!  
> I had originally intended for this just to be a compilation of one-shots, but I've started to weave it into one longer story. I have up till Chapter 6 out over in FanFiction if any of you guys like this chapter and wanna read more~!
> 
> I hope you like this story, and let me know what you think in the comments!

 

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

 

"I am _not_ going to go through with this _Potter_."

" _Yes_ , you _will_."

" _No_ , I will _not_."

"Well unless you fancy sleeping by yourself on the couch for the next month, I suggest you straighten your attitude out and just comply, _Malfoy_." Harry's tone took on a teasing lilt as he called the blonde's surname—smirking a bit despite the petulant scowl the grey eyes were directing towards him.

Draco would always revert to calling him _Potter_ when upset, so Harry found it amusing to join in on the game as well—teasing the blonde despite his obviously pissed off attitude.

The words however merely washed over Draco, who easily scoffed and rolled his eyes at the threat. "Oh _please_ , like you would really kick me out of our bed." He waved a dismissive hand at the obvious bluff and continued, his voice now losing anger and gaining it's usual haughtiness.

"We both know that you would rather go straight to Azkaban and beg my father for my hand in marriage than go one night without sleeping with me.”

At the boldly spoken declaration, Harry couldn't help the blush that stained his cheeks—both at the prospect of him going to Lucius Malfoy to ask for his son's hand in marriage, as well as at the notion of being called out on his threat. (Which was completely as Draco had stated.)

"Fine. You're right—I _wouldn't_ ," Harry relented with a small huff—crossing his arms over his chest and finally giving the blonde a softer look. "But this whole thing will go a whole lot smoother if you just try to get along and not be such an arse."

Draco spluttered indignantly at his lover's particular choice of wording.

" _Me?_ You're telling _me_ to try and not be such an arse? What about _Weaslebe_?! You know that _he's_ the one who's gonna start shit!"

Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. " _Draco_....."

The reason for this lover's spat in the early afternoon of a perfectly nice Saturday, was concerning that of the matter of Harry wanting to finally come out with their relationship to their friends—starting, he suggested, with Ron and Hermione.

He and Draco had been successfully dating for over two years without telling another soul- and Draco seemed perfectly content with keeping it that way.

From the way the Draco saw it, he didn't have any family that he wanted to tell about it—his father was locked away in Azkaban (and he didn't give two dragon craps what his old man had to say anymore), and his mother had passed away from emotional turmoil and stress a few years prior—leaving Draco detached from any other familial connections that he had.

Working together as Aurors for the Ministry as well allowed them to keep the pretense of their relationship as merely partners, so Draco seemed to see no reason in alerting the rest of their colleagues in the department of their true relationship, so all in all—Draco wasn't the least bit concerned about inviting others into their private lives and sharing their secret with them.

Harry, on the other hand, had plenty of people that he had been keeping in the dark about his relationship status. Hermione and Ron, Ginny, the rest of the Weasley's whom he considered his own blood family—not a single one of them knew. The dark haired male figured it would have been bad enough to simply keep them out of the loop in terms of him finding a significant other—but when he actually lined up all of the bullet points of things he had yet to actually tell them....

He finally accepted himself as gay, and had been searching for a male partner.

He had found, and was currently very involved with his male partner.

His male partner was none other than the pompous blonde pureblood; Draco Malfoy.

Harry sighed and raked a hand through his dark, unruly hair and paced around the living room of their apartment. When questioned by his friends and pseudo family about having a lover, he outright lied to them......many.....many... _many_ times. But today he finally decided that he just couldn't bear the guilt of lying to his friends over and over again—it was really starting to eat at him.

Seeing as he usually went out for dinner with Ron and Hermione once a week, questions regarding his dating status were frequent—and he had to make up a menagerie of excuses to cover for his actual relationship status concerning the Slytherin. Hermione and Ron were also employees of the Ministry—but being that they were in different departments, they weren't even informed that he and Draco were Auror partners. But, enough was enough—Harry decided that he finally wanted to come clean to them—starting with them coming over to his and Draco's apartment for dinner......

As was why the current argument was taking place.

Draco watched as Harry paced around the room, combing his fingers through his hair absentmindedly as he tended to do when in deep thought. There was a deep frown marring his face, and his dark brows were drawn down unhappily towards his emerald eyes- leaving the blonde with the slight feeling a guilt starting to creep its way into his chest.

"Look Harry.." He finally sighed, getting up from his place on their sofa and moving to lean against the window next to it. 

"I get....why you want to tell your friends about us...sorta......You feel like you're betraying them by lying to them.....?"

Harry stoped his pacing to gaze over at his astoundingly astute lover, nodding his head in confirmation.

"Yeah...I thought so.......Bloody Gryffindor loyalty...." Draco muttered with a wry laugh, turning to glance out the window again.

"That's all well and good and all, but have you thought about what will happen if they don't accept us?"

Draco turned to look his partner straight in the eye—grey locking on emerald.

"I have," Harry replied confidently. "They're my friends, and I know them well. Even if they don't.......accept us....right away, I know that they will eventually.” 

"But what if they change your mind.....?" Draco whispered, tracing a pattern into the fog of the window pane with his finger as he stared out it—not daring to meet the dark haired male's piercing stare.

"....Change...my mind......?" Harry seemed confused at the wording, and repeated the question slowly.

"About...... _us_...........about _me_....."

The voice that came from the blonde wasn't the usually snarky, cool, confident Draco that he was used to. Instead he sounded so scared, so worried, so....vulnerable.

" _Draco_."

Harry's heart filled with emotion and he quickly strode over to his lover- embracing him and pouring all of his feelings into the hug.

" _You_..." He started, voice dipping down low as emotions soared through him. "—are the best thing that's ever happened to me.....I wouldn't give you up for the world...."

Normally they were both above delivering lovey-dovey sticky sweet sentiments to each other—they both openly showed their affections, but usually in not so many words. The shock of having a full blown love confession delivered to Draco was enough for his heart to skip several beats, and he chose to respond by returning the hug—burying his face into his lover's neckline and breathing in his calming scent.

Harry pulled back enough to stare Draco in the eye. "I promise...."

He sealed the promise with a dip of his head forwards—capturing the blonde's pouty lips in his own, and ravishing them tenderly.

After a moment, they separated—and Draco's face resumed it's normal cocky expression with smirking lips.

"What time did you tell them to come over at...?"

"Hmm? Oh, I think 4:00..." Harry glanced at the clock in the wall. "It's 2:00 now, which _means_ —" 

"—We have enough time to fit it a quick round before they get here!" Draco interrupted smoothly, trailing his hands around Harry's backside to rest snuggly at his ass.

"Wha-? _Hey!_ _No_ , it means that we need to get stuff started for dinner!" Harry retorted indignantly.

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist—we've got plenty of time to get things ready. Just _one_ round~" The blonde pulled his lover over to the couch and pushed him to sit down, sinking down to straddle his lap.

"There is not such thing as _'just one round'_ with you...." Harry mumbled with a chuckle, but didn't stop his lover's advances as Draco bent down to capture his lips once again—this time with a more heated urgency, sweeping his tongue over the Gryffindor's bottom lip before taking it between his teeth to tug at teasingly.

"Mmmm, _Draco_....." Harry mumbled heatedly—his hands beginning to roam around his lover's lean muscled body.

"Urg...too many clothes...." Draco grumbled in complaint—reaching over to the coffee table and grabbing his wand. With a mumbled spell and a swish of his wrist, the two of them were rid from their clothing, besides their boxers, and Draco happily resumed work- tossing his wand carelessly behind him.

He kissed a trail across Harry's jawline and down his neck, savoring in the feel and taste of the other man's skin. Draco couldn't resist the temptation and began sucking and nipping at a strip of the lovely white neck—lavishing his lover's neck and creating a dark red love mark there.

"Mmm..aah.. _nnnn_....." Harry groaned and arched his back in pleasure at the sensation on his neck—though that wasn't the only place he was feeling it.

" _Draco_....."

"Mmmm, I know....." Draco responded dazedly, already rocking his hips rhythmically as he continued to move further south on his lover's body.

Once he reached a point where he could kiss no lower, he sunk down to the carpet—spreading Harry's legs apart and nestling securely between them—his body burning with lust.

"You can't keep it in, can you~?" Draco teased, kissing and nipping at the sensitive flesh of Harry's thighs as they quivered in arousal.

"No......need you....Draco... _nnn_..please....."

"Alright then....."

Draco reached forwards and grabbed the hem of Harry's boxers, pulling them down and leaning forwards to capture his prize in his mouth.

_THUMP!_

A sudden sound made Harry jerk in surprise, and alerted the couple to the presence of company in their living room.

" _Honestly_ Ronald! I told you, Harry said to meet him at 2:30, not 3:00!" The unmistakable voice of Hermione Granger quipped shortly as she suddenly landed in the fireplace—bending down to quickly dust the excess floo powder off of the bottom of her coat.

"Alright, 'Mione......" A second figure, Ron returned with a slight roll of his eyes, as he too landed in the fireplace—again, bending down to haphazardly sweep the powder off his own coat as well. The redhead took no more than one step out of the fireplace before lifting his eyes and suddenly processing the scene taking place on the couch directly in front of him, barely 10 feet away. 

"-W-wha-? Wait! What's—???!!!!"

"What are you fussing about Ro— H-H- _Harry_??!!" Hermione gasped in shock, mimicking Ron's exact reaction as she stepped out of the fireplace and onto the plush carpet—jaw hanging slack and eyes bulged at the sight in front of her.

Harry was still leaning back into the couch, legs separated and a hand holding the head of blonde hair nestled between his thighs. Draco's back was still to the fireplace, leaving his identity unbeknownst to the new guests—but he could just imagine what kind of faces the two Gryffindor's were making.

_Oh, this is gonna be good~....._

Harry, who had gone pale in shock, froze—eyes wide in disbelief as he met those of his closest friends. Draco, on the other hand, maintained his usual calm and cool exterior and made no move to remove himself from the extremely suggestive position he was in between the Gryffindor's legs—smirking gleefully at what he assumed were absolutely dumbstruck faces that the new visitors were pulling. Instead of turning around right away and revealing his identity, he remained facing the couch—shifting his gaze upwards to his lover.

"I thought you said they were coming at 4...." The Slytherin drawled in amusement, causing Harry to snap out of his frozen state and turn a miserable look to the blonde.

"I said I _thought_ I told them to come at 4....."

"Oh, so this is _your_ fault then."

" _Draco_."

"H- _Harry_....t-t-that's _not_....h-h-he's not actually...." For nearly the first time in her life, Hermione was speechless—stammering as she glanced wide eyed at the blob platinum blonde hair still nestled in the space between Harry's legs with a glimmer of horrifying recognition. Ron turned his gaze as well and looked like he was about to be sick.

It didn't seem possible, but Harry paled even further—and before he had a chance to stop his lover from doing something stupid—Draco shot him a wink and a smirk before opening his mouth to retort.

"Hate to break it to you Granger, but it really is me." The unmistakably cool and confident voice of Draco Malfoy quipped back—his lips curling into one of absolute delight as he finally turned around and faced his lover's two friends—though he stayed sitting on the floor between Harry's legs for emphasis.

"You should thank me for taking time out of my busy schedule to come grace you wankers with my presence." He continued arrogantly—relishing in how purple Ron's face was turning, and how Hermione could do no more than gape at him—no words leaving her mouth.

" _Draco!_ " Harry protested with a groan—knocking his foot into the blonde's leg in reprimandment.

" _What~?_ " Draco shot back with a pout, turning sideways to send the dark haired male a look that said _'Why are you mad at me?'_.

Apparently, that was all that Ron could take.

"I'm gonna be sick...." The redhead muttered—then promptly proceeded to faint with a large _'thump'_.

His large body slumped forwards onto the floor, and Hermione reached forwards in concern.

" _Ron?_ Ro-......"

_Thump._

Harry watched in horror as she too collapsed on the floor, falling closely beside the large redhead.

Draco watched the scene unfold in front of him and released a howl of laughter—clutching at his sides as he laughed in unadulterated joy—wiping tears of mirth from his eyes after another moment of basking in the amusement. After a few more snickers he glanced up at Harry, who closed his eyes and scrubbed at his face with the back of his hands—a _'Why me?'_ groan escaping his lips as he did so.

"You forgot to disable the wards, didn't you?" The blonde asked gleefully.

Harry groaned again and wordlessly nodded. The wards that they kept up around their apartment weren't harmful—they just caused any person who entered without the permission of either him or Draco to fall unconscious moments after they enter the flat—as was what happened to the pair of knocked out Gryffindors.

"Maybe we should just Obliviate them and send them home—then call them back over and do that all again?" The Slytherin suggested gleefully, finally getting up from his place on the floor and flopping down on the couch beside Harry.

"I'm sure glad _you're_ finding this funny...." Harry grumbled back petulantly, ignoring the mischievous gleam in the blonde's grey eyes and staring hopelessly at the unconscious forms of his friends on the floor of their living room. 

"Oh, better yet! Give me that black Muggle box thing." Draco took no note of his lover's interjection and continued talking—mischievous excitement heavily laden in his voice.

"That Muggle box...What's it called? The thing that takes the pictures that don't move."

" _Polaroid_." Harry supplied tiredly, getting up off of the couch and looking around for his wand.

" _That's it_ —Polaroid! I wanna get that stupid look on Weaslbe's face burned into a picture!" The blonde replied in sheer delight—hopping nimbly off of the couch and trailing after his dark haired lover.

"Ah there it is." Harry mumbled, finally spying his wand on the floor across the room and picking it up.

"What're you doing?" Draco asked curiously as the other male pointed his wand at the two unconscious Gryffindors.

Harry ignored the question and swished his wand. " _Wingardium Leviosa._ "

The two figures magically floated upwards, and Harry maneuvered them sit onto the couch before releasing the spell.

He glanced down at the wand in his hand a gave a small self-deprecating snicker. You'd think that a seasoned 22 year old wizard, vanquisher of Voldemort and savior of the Wizarding World would be able to perform a simple 1st Year Charm spell non-verbally—but, after trying and failing miserably before to do so an occasion before (resulting in marinara sauce being flung all around the kitchen, and a less than thrilled Draco banning him from trying the spell non-verbally again) he'd kept to his promise and had so far refrained from testing it out again.

"So...What now?" Draco asked curiously, surveying the pair on the couch with a cock of his head. "You have a grand plan for breaking it to them when they come to?"

Once again, Harry ignored the question, and made for the staircase—thinking to change himself into actual clothes (he had forgotten that he'd been in nothing but his boxers this entire time), and then figure out a game plan of how he was going to explain the situation to Ron and Hermione.

He was still a bit peeved at the attitude that his lover had already chosen to adopt as soon as Ron and Hermione had entered their apartment- even after Harry had begged him ahead of time to be on his best behavior.

" _Oi_ , don't ignore me!" The blonde protested, and climbed the staircase after him.

Harry entered their bedroom and went straight to their enormous walk-in closet. Living with a Malfoy demanded closet space—and if it weren't for the undetectable extension charm that he had placed upon the closet after moving in, he had no doubt that Draco's clothes would take up the entire space on their own.

Said Malfoy picked that exact moment to stalk into the closet behind the dark haired male, quirking an unamused brow at the cold shoulder that he was getting.

" _The hell_ did I do to deserve that attitude?" Draco asked indignantly, crossing his arms with a pout.

Harry's brow twitched and he had the urge to chuck something at the blonde's hard head.

"I distinctly remember asking you to _not_ be an arse when they came over, _Malfoy_." 

" _Wha-?_ How was _that_ being an arse?!"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe being a sarcastic asshole and calling them wankers the moment they walked in the door." The dark haired male deadpanned, shooting his lover an unamused scowl.

Draco opened his mouth to retort, but snapped shut it with a pout—deciding that he was probably just going to dig himself into a deeper hole. 

"Oh _please_. You're not wearing _that_." He retorted instead, balking at the hideous maroon jumper that the other male had just grabbed off of a hanger.

Harry looked down at the offending item in his hands then up at his lover with a frown. "What's wrong with it? I like this one."

"It looks like something your Great Aunt Agatha would wear."

"I don't _have_ a Great Aunt Agatha."

"Well I _do_ , and it looks like something she'd wear." The blonde retorted with a shudder, sneaking his wand out of his back pocket and quickly flicking it at the jumper.

"Hey!"

The jumper disappeared into thin air—leaving a scowling Gryffindor and a smug Slytherin.

"You should wear something high quality..." The blonde continued, scanning the shelves in the closet until he found what he was looking for and levitated it down with his wand.

"Something like _this_." He passed a beautiful emerald green jumper over to Harry with a smirk—who took it somewhat doubtfully.

Harry sighed and looked the garment over. As his lover had boasted, the jumper seemed to be of very high quality—the fabric felt soft against his fingers and it looked incredibly warm.

"C'mon, put it on~ It's cashmere—ordered custom-made, just for you." The blonde urged with an emphatic wave of his hand.

"Custom-made? How'd you know my sizes? Why'd you buy me such an expensive jumper? And what made you pick green?" Harry called in question as he walked back over to his side of the closet and threw on an undershirt before slipping his arms into the soft, silky material of the green garment.

He stood in front of the mirror and surveyed himself.

The jumper fit him like a glove and was spectacularly soft and warm. He had to admit—his lover did have excellent taste when it came to clothing.

"It's custom made because I appreciate the finer things in life—like getting my clothes designed and fitted exactly as I like them. I picked one up for you and had it made sometime last week when I went to pick up an order." Draco responded as he threw on a black turtleneck and slipped a charcoal grey jumper of his own on top—hiking the sleeves up as he rummaged through his other shelves to find a suitable watch.

"I knew your sizes because, let's be honest—is there any part of your body that I _don't_ know by now?" He continued, glancing up with a smirk to see the slight blush stain the dark haired male's cheeks.

"And as for the reason why it's _green_ —" Draco fastened a sleek silver watch around his wrist and walked back over to where Harry stood—still surveying his appearance in the mirror.

"—‘cause it matches your eyes." 

The blonde punctuated the statement with a wink and a quick peck on his lover's cheek—and that was enough to cause the full grown male to blush completely red in the face.

"You're embarrassing." Harry muttered grumpily, but felt himself smile all the same.

"Well that—" Draco stopped and sent a trademark smirk to the dark haired male. "—and I can't resist dressing my Gryffindor lover up in Slytherin colors~"

Harry started sputtering and Draco threw his head back with a laugh.

"Especially when he's getting ready to meet with his other Gryffindor friends~!"

"Malfoy, _you!_ "

Harry reached for the closest object he could find—a harmless pair of socks—and hurled it at the smug blonde. He however, nimbly slunk out of the closet before real damage could ensue, and left the boy wonder to steam in the closet by himself.

"That prat..."

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

10 minutes later and Harry strode down the staircase, wearily searching out his lover for fear of the mischief that he was mostly likely getting ready to amuse himself with.

"Draco, where...."

The sound of something sizzling in a pan answered his question, and he meandered over to the kitchen—finding his blonde lover already busy preparing food—pots and pans simmering on the stove and ingredients stacked on the counters. 

Draco glanced back upon hearing another presence in the kitchen, and offered a somewhat apologetic smile to the dark haired male. 

"Figured I'd start cooking and you can wake them up....it'll probably be better if I'm not there immediately." He explained with a shrug, turning back to the stove and stirring whatever it was that was in the pan—Harry couldn't see.

"Alright......I'll...get to it then......" Harry hazarded, dragging his feet out of the kitchen and sinking glumly into the arm chair adjacent to the couch.

"Here goes nothing....."

He waved his wand and muttered a few spells to lift the wards' effects on his company—and moments later the two began to rouse with groans and yawns.

"Urg, my head hurts.....what happened..?" Ron blearily opened his eyes and glanced around in confusion—eyes darting quickly to the figure leaning against him.

"Hermione? Hey, 'Mione..." He lightly shook the brunette next to him, who slowly opened her eyes with a frown.

"Ron? _What_......?"

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat and coughed discretely, catching the attention of the two Gryffindors.

"Harry! Oh it's so good to see you, what happened?" Hermione asked with confused smile, glancing around to survey her surroundings. 

"Oh, _er_..." Harry scratched behind his ear uncomfortably. "I forgot to lower the wards before you guys came.....you were a bit earlier than I had expected...."

Ron frowned deeply and glanced around as well. "Your wards knocked us out?"

"Uh, _yeah_...."

The dark haired male shifted uncomfortably and tried to resist the temptation to flit his eyes back to the kitchen where he knew Draco was cooking away. Thankfully the blonde had enough sense to throw up a sound Charm around the kitchen to keep his noises from being heard by those in the living room.

Ron screwed his face in an expression that suggested he was in extreme pain—but to those who knew him realized this to be the expression that he took on when thinking deeply about something. 

"Is something the matter, Ron?" Hermione asked with a frown of her own, clearly feeling as if something wasn't right.

"I'm forgetting something." He muttered seriously.

"Well you do that quite often, mate." Harry joked nervously.

"No, I know what you mean Ron. Harry, this is the first time that we've been to your apartment since you moved here—but I have the strange feeling like I've been here before......" Hermione added with a concerned gaze swept over the room.

"Well, Uh....you were just here....a little bit ago.....before you passed out from the wards......." The dark haired wizard supplied slowly—desperately praying though, that it wouldn't trigger any lightbulbs.

A moment later, Ron's face suddenly took on the color of a tomato—and Harry knew that his prayer hadn't been answered.

_Oh shit...._

"Harry!! You were here with Malfoy earlier weren't you??!!" He suddenly exploded—waving an accusingly finger wildly towards his friend.

"R-Ron, _that's_......"

"That's _right!_ " Hermione cut in, her face becoming one of horrid realization.

"W-we flooed in and...and _Malfoy_ and you....you..were......"

Her face erupted into a blush, but Harry was sure that hers was no match for his. He was blushing so much he felt his ears burning. 

"What the bloody hell, mate?? Tell us honestly! Why was Malfoy here, and what were you doing with him earlier?!" Ron roared angrily, his face matching the color of his hair.

Harry opened and closed his mouth, but no words would leave it.

"I was here this morning, _Weaslebe_ , because I live here." Drawled the calm and cool voice of Draco as he strolled out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel that he had slung over his shoulder. 

Harry didn't know if he wanted to sigh with relief or groan in pain at the sudden appearance of his lover—but for the moment, he decided that he would feel a bit more relieved.

Ron and Hermione, on the other hand both openly gaped at the new figure—but before they could get a word in, the Slytherin continued.

"Potter and I have lived in this flat together for just over a year now. What you saw earlier was a normal part of a relationship—it's called shagging, not that you two would have any knowledge of that." He cast a cool smirk down at the both of them, and was pleased to note that he saw Ron's facial color go from purple to slightly green.

The two seemed completely incapable of uttering a single word, so Draco allowed himself to continue—walking around the couch to lean against the chair that Harry was occupying.

"To put it simply Weaslebrain, we're dating. Have been for over two years."

Harry remained frozen as well, scared of the reactions of his two friends. Before he could even bring himself to utter a single word however, he felt a pair of warm lips suddenly descend upon his own. 

Draco gave the pair of stunned Gryffindors a wink as he leaned over and captured his lover's lips—moving his own against them only briefly before releasing them.

Harry nearly voiced out his displeasure of him having broken the kiss so quickly—but he suddenly remembered that he was in front of his friends. Kissing his lover. Who also happened to be Draco Malfoy. Who didn't have a good history with his two friends. And who also looked like they wanted to throw up and murder him at the same time.

"Harry, mate......How could you.....?" Ron asked with a scowl, though it didn't stop the hurt from bleeding into his voice.

Hermione released a shaky breath and held her head in her hands- shaking it confusedly.

"Harry.....why...?"

Harry stared at his lap for a moment—not trusting himself to speak.

"Can we please talk about this? Over dinner?" He asked quietly, pleading with his eyes for the two of his friends to give him a chance.

Ron looked away indignantly, not even meeting his emerald eyes. Hermione on the other hand gave a small sigh, her standing wavering at the heartbroken look on her friend's face.

"A-Alright. Ronald, we should at least hear him out....."

The redhead gave her an astounded look, but complied with a huff when she turned her own pleading look on him.

"Fine. We'll hear him out, then leave." He replied shortly. 

"Excellent, I'll break out the fine China then...." Draco muttered dryly, earning a sharp glare from both Harry and Ron. The blonde raised his hands in defense and strode back ahead of them to the kitchen—leaving Harry to talk to the two.

"Look you two, I really am sorry.....for...a lot of things...." The dark haired male began quietly, fixing them both with an apologetic look. "I just....I think it'll be better if we sit down and talk....I can explain how this all happened.."

Ron and Hermione exchanged frowns and followed Harry into the kitchen, where a table had already been set for four.

"Please do make yourself at home! If I'd have known you'd be dining with us tonight I'd have prepared something a bit simpler to suit your poor tastes." Draco quipped as Ron and Hermione took their seats at the table—both shooting Draco a glare to his back.

" _Draco._ " Harry reprimanded reproachfully. Draco turned and met his eyes, offering a mock-innocent _'What did I do?'_ look. Harry's glare cut through, and Draco relented with a sigh, turning back to the stove with a pout and a slight drop of his shoulders. 

Hermione stared strangely at the bizarre behavior that the normally snarky and cruel blonde was displaying, but shook her head with a slight frown. People don't change that easily.

"So, Uh.....Where should I start...." Harry began nervously, flitting his eyes back and forth between his two longtime friends. 

"How about you start with the part where you're gay?" The Slytherin commented in amusement—grey eyes dancing with mischief as they usually did when he was teasing his lover.

Ron raised a brow incredulously and gave his friend a strange frown- ignoring the blonde in his peripheral. "Seriously mate? You don't have a thing for girls at all?"

Harry cringed a bit and shook his head slightly. "I know...that everyone thought that Ginny and I would end up together...." He trailed off wistfully, and Draco felt a painful pang of jealousy in his chest. 

"I tried dating her, but I never truly fell in love with her. I love her as a sister, but nothing in the romantic sense. After that I took a break from dating—honestly I never really tried to find someone to date. But after a while, I realized it was just because I didn't find an attraction to women—I felt myself drawn to men....." Harry tried to explain himself logically, but he didn't know if he was making any sense.

"Don't forget the part about only being attracted to blonde, pureblooded, Slytherin men with devilishly handsome looks and a great body." Draco piped in with flirtatious wink directed at the dark haired male.

Hermione gagged and Ron actually choked—bending forwards and pounding on his chest as he coughed and hacked. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and did the best that he could to remain calm in the circumstances that he was put in.

" _Thank you_ for that, _Malfoy._ " He replied stiffly, shooting the offending blonde a glare that told him to shut up. 

Draco turned around with another pout, stirring away at the pan on the stove in front of him—perhaps more vigorously than desired due to his put out mood.

" _Anyways_ —" Harry continued with a slight cough once Ron had stopped choking and no longer looked like he was going spill his guts on the floor.

"To make a long story short—once I started working at the Ministry, around the same time that you guys started, Malfoy and I were almost immediately assigned to work together as partners on Auror cases. At first we were both against the idea, but.....well, things happened....and we decided to date." He finished somewhat awkwardly, finding no point in actually going into all of the details.

Hermione and Ron sat at the table, both somewhat shell shocked at the unbelievable story that they were being told. 

"I know that it's a lot to take in....but it's the truth." Harry uttered earnestly, not knowing what else he could say to plead his case.

"Well if you're done with your ladies aid, then it's time to eat." Draco commented with a smirk, swishing his wand and levitating different plates filled with food onto the table.

"I'm sure that no one objects to some Chinese stir fry? Cause if you do, you know where the door is~" 

Hermione gaped at the blonde in clear confusion, while Ron settled for merely giving the Slytherin a dirty look—following his every movement as he pulled out a chair next to Harry and sat down.

"How...do you know about Chinese take out food?" Hermione asked hesitantly, looking over the food in front of her curiously.

"We eat Chinese take out almost every Friday—it's kind of our thing to relax into the weekend with." Harry replied with a nonchalant shrug, while Hermione merely looked unsatisfied with the answer.

Draco noticed the look and cut in with a sigh.

"I know what you're thinking; _'Oh pureblood snob Malfoy, there's no way he would ever touch Muggle fast food!'_ , right?" 

Hermione's cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment and she looked down at her bowl.

"It's alright, I expected as much. If you would've asked me 5 years ago to try Muggle food I would've looked at you like you were crazy......but I'm different now." The blonde replied seriously, matching both Hermione and Ron's looks with a confident one of his own.

"I don't want to be known anymore as the pureblooded snob Draco Malfoy, son of a Death Eater and hater of Muggles and Muggleborns."

The lack of the word Mudblood didn't go unnoticed by Hermione, who looked at the Slytherin with slightly more accepting eyes.

"Seriously. For good now. I just want to be me—a normal wizard, who works as an Auror for the Ministry, hates it when things aren't tidy, and loves my boyfriend—who just happens to be the savior of the Wizarding World." Draco finished his mini-speech with a firm nod of resignation, and Harry grabbed his hand underneath the table and gave it a squeeze of support.

"You.........you really have changed, haven't you.." Ron mumbled quietly, looking between the blonde and Harry.

"Well fine then. As long as you swear that you've change for the better and aren't pretending—I guess I'll have to be fine with my best mate shacking up with a weasel." The redhead lamented with a sigh, standing up and pulling Hermione up with him. 

Draco quirked his lip in annoyance at the name, but widely chose not to comment—receiving a few gentle strokes to back of his hand as a reward for his compliance. 

"As long as you're happy, Harry. We'll accept you no matter what." Hermione added a bit tearfully, walking over to give the dark haired wizard a hug.

The four walked into the living room together and Ron begrudgingly stepped into the fireplace with Hermione—still giving Draco a shifty look. 

"Just.....promise you'll tell us if he does anything bad to you." The redhead begged with a groan, scowling at the smirking face that Draco returned. 

"Don't worry Weasley, only every ni—"

Harry quickly covered the pale lips with his hand before Draco could get another word out, but clearly the message had gotten across to Ron—who looked on the verge of being sick again. He felt relief but also a bit of sorrow as he waved at the two in the fireplace before they tossed a pinch of powder and disappeared into a spark of flames. 

"Well, that could've gone a hell of a lot worse!" Draco replied brightly, laughing as he remembered the face that Ron was making again.

"I told you they would accept us." Harry replied with a soft smile, turning to link his arms behind the blonde's neck.

"Alright, I'll add it to the books. _'Harry 1, Draco 999'._ "

"Oh _please_ , you're not right _that_ often."

"Wanna bet, _Potter_?"

"You're on _Malfoy_. Guess what I'm thinking of _right now._ "

"You want to continue with what we were doing earlier." Draco replied with low growl, guiding them over to the couch and pushing Harry down. 

"Alright, I'll give you that one..." Harry replied with a slight laugh, reaching his hands up to hook around the blonde's neck as he hovered on top of him. 

"But Draco, don't forget....."

" _Hnn?_ " Draco intoned, busy kissing a trail down his lover's neck.

Harry leaned up and placed his mouth next to Draco's face to whisper hotly in his ear.

"We still have to tell _your_ friends too~"

At the sudden thought of having to tell Blaise and Pansy about how he somehow ended up dating the savior of the Wizarding World, he paled and groaned in defeat. 

"They can wait. I reckon I need at least a month for things to go back to normal before _they_ raise hell...."

Harry laughed lightly at the response and leaned back to stare into Draco's grey eyes.

"Now, where were we......"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope you liked the first chapter! Here’s the second where a certain devilish Italian makes his appearance! Mwahaha~ If you like what you you read (or even if you don’t) feel free to leave a review~! :D

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Remind me again; why do we need to move the couch?” Draco asked in amusement—his lean body draped over a chair as he watched his lover survey their small living room with a critical eye.

“Because...,” The Gryffindor replied monotonously, tapping his finger on his lips in thought. “I will not accept another incident happening like last time....”

“Incident _meaning_.....?”

“Somebody...walking in on us....,” Harry mumbled petulantly, his cheeks tinging slightly pink in embarrassment.

“Eh? So what—somebody saw us snogging on the couch. That’s nothing to get your knickers in a twist about.”

“I’m pretty sure we were further along than _just_ snogging.....”

“Sticks and stones, love.”

“Either we move the couch, or there will be no shagging anywhere in this flat except for the bed.” Harry finally offered—shooting his blonde lover a look that would have made Voldemort shake in his boots.

“Well, I never did care for this furniture arrangement anyways!” Draco replied immediately—snatching his wand out of his back pocket with sudden motivation.

Harry smirked at his predictable boyfriend and retrieved his own wand off of the coffee table to assist in levitating and moving the couch.

“So, where exactly are we putting this?”

“Can we just.....turn it around?”

“Turn it around?” Harry furrowed his brows in thought before twisting his wand—prompting the blonde to do the same.

The couch spun around in the air and sank gracefully back to it’s original position, albeit backwards now, with a quiet _‘thump’_.

“See? So now it’s facing the kitchen instead of the fireplace!” Draco happily stated the obvious, looking quiet proud of himself for some reason.

Harry sighed and gave the couch another frown. “It doesn’t really make sense for the couch to be facing the kitchen though......”

“Why not? Then I can have a good view!” Draco stated with a mischievous smirk, plopping down on the couch and earning a puzzled frown from the darker haired wizard.

“........Good....view....?” Harry repeated carefully, shooting his lover an _‘Are you a raving lunatic?’_ look.

“Yeah, for when we do apron play~” The blonde bit his lip and dropped his voice down seductively. “I can watch your sexy naked behind make me breakfast in that frilly apron I bought from— _mmphff!_ ”

Harry had heard _quite_ enough, and a flick of his wand sent a well aimed throw pillow to effectively shut up the Slytherin with a firm blow to the face.

“ _Hey!_ Mean.” Draco pouted with a glare.

“You prat...” Harry shot back in annoyance, turning away from his lover with a cross of his arms.

“Oh no you don’t...” The Slytherin muttered, quickly seizing a hold on Harry’s arm and dragging him back onto the couch beside him.

“-Oi! Draco!” Harry protested as he was successfully tugged backwards and fell back onto the couch. The blonde wasted no time in quickly capturing his prey—climbing on top of the Gryffindor with a seductive smirk.

“We should definitely test out the shagability of the couch in this position,” He stated with serious nod, earning an eye roll from the male underneath him.

Draco didn’t let his lover’s lack of enthusiasm derail him—slowly trailing his pale fingers down the Gryffindor’s chest and slipping them underneath the fabric of the faded T-shirt to grope at his firm chest. After a moment, Harry groaned in defeat and batted his lover’s hand away so that he could sit up—effectively stretching his arms over his head and slipping off his shirt in the process.

“You’re such a prat...,” He muttered in annoyance, slipping an arm around Draco’s lean waist to anchor him in place on his lap.

“But I’m _your_ prat~” The Slytherin reminded haughtily. Harry gave a brief laugh and an assuring nod before said prat dipped his head down to join their lips.

“Mmmmm..... _nnn_..nuh.......” Draco moaned in pleasure as Harry quickly took control of the kiss—snaking a hand around the back of his neck and holding him firmly in place. The blonde whimpered in pleasure as the inside of his mouth was throughly ravished by the Gryffindor—tongues tangling and caressing each other gently but firmly.

“ _More~_ ” The blonde panted shortly after his lover had retracted his lips to regain some air. The Slytherin began impatiently rocking his hips against Harry’s before pushing the dark haired male backwards and hovering over him.

“Mmmm, got it....,” The Gryffindor replied with a chuckle, reaching up to help the blonde out of his own T-shirt before their snogging resumed.

Harry let his hands roam downwards as he busied his mouth with his lover’s, reaching the hem of Draco’s pants and fumbling to undo his belt. The Gryffindor growled in annoyance and groped around for his wand. With the swish of a wrist both of their pants were gone and the dark haired wizard happily returned to his exploring—sneaking his hands around his lover’s smooth underwear-clad butt and swatting it lovingly.

The motion however caused Draco to freeze suddenly.

“Dray...?”

The blonde ignored his lover’s concerned look and reached backwards to grope at his butt—looking down at Harry with a horrified expression as he did.

“Where did my jeans go?”

Harry blinked up at the Slytherin wordlessly, taking several long seconds to comprehend what he was saying.

“I just vanished them...” The Gryffindor stated slowly, looking at Draco in concern.

“You.....just vanished.....my favorite......white.....designer...jeans......?” The blonde turned wide eyes on his lover below, and Harry knew he’d just screwed himself.

“I’ll buy you a new pair?” The dark haired wizard offered tentatively, doing his best to sound completely remorseful while trying to tug Draco’s neck back down so that they could continue their snogging.

“Those jeans were limited edition, 500 galleon, vintage distressed, _custom-fitted_ , Potter!” The blonde snapped irritably, refusing his lover’s advances.

“I said I was sorry~” Harry pouted with a put out look.

“No you _didn’t._ ”

“Well _I’m sorry._ ”

“You don’t _sound sorry._ ”

“.....It was _just_ a pair of jeans, Malfoy.”

“What part of _‘favorite, white, limited edition, 500 galleon, vintage distressed, custom-fitted, designer’_ did you not get?” Draco deadpanned, a bewildered look marring his normally charming face.

“We’ll go shopping tomorrow,” Harry promised, doing his best to try and soothe the put-out blonde. “I’m sure we can go back to whatever fancy-ass store it was that you got them from and order another pair.”

Draco hesitated for a moment—still looking like he wanted to put up a fight—but eventually relented with a nod and leaned forwards to place a chaste, apologetic kiss on the dark haired wizard’s lips.

“Alright, _fine_. But you’re buying.”

“Of course, love.”

Harry gently tugged Draco’s neck back down to connect their lips once more, and he resumed his earlier attempts at groping his lover’s firm ass.

The pair continued their languid snogging and groping for another few minutes before Draco finally released his lover’s lips with a groan.

“Ugh, enough...’m going crazy.....,” He whimpered—sitting back and grinding his hips down against his lover’s impatiently.

“Ah.. _ooh_...Draco....stop,” Harry protested weakly despite throwing his head back in pleasure at the sensation. Draco’s administrations were sending heat pooling straight to his groin—and if he wasn’t careful he was going to end up losing control already.

The blonde however, wasn’t listening to the groans of his lover beneath him—too busy insteadtrying to find some sort of relief in grinding against the body heat of his lover.

“Mmm.... _Harry~_...” Draco mewled lustily, tipping his head back and raking a hand through his hair restlessly.

 _That_ did it.

Harry had a full mind to flip Draco over and tear off his boxers, but a loud _‘thump’_ interrupted that thought process.

“What the....”

“Draco, mate! Good to see ya!” The silky smooth voice of Draco’s best friend drawled as he stepped out of the fireplace—apparently having just flooed in to the flat—despite the lack of the couple’s knowledge.

_Oh not again......._

“Uh, Blaise! What in Salazar’s name are you doing here?” The blonde called quickly, immediately stopping his movements and dropping his hand out of his hair—trying his best to sound even-keeled with his precarious position perched on top of his lover’s hips. Thankfully the new couch position, being turned away from the fireplace—hid the length of Harry’s body, but still left the upper half Draco’s body visible due to his upright sitting position.

“What am I doing here? It’s Sunday, mate! I always come over and we watch the people in the muggle box on Sunday!” Blaise retorted indignantly, thankfully not catching on to anything strange yet as he perched himself on the arm of the nearest chair to the fireplace.

“The _Telly_ , Blaise,” Draco sighed in annoyance, as if he was so much more knowledgeable in the realm of muggle objects than his dark skinned friend.

To this Harry rolled his eyes at Draco’s self superior tone, knowing that not to be the case.

The blonde ignored his dark haired lover beneath him and leaned onto the back of the couch, trying to make his sitting posture seem completely normal. Blaise was busy glancing around the room, and took no notice of his friend’s strange behavior.

“Yes, yes, the Telly, that’s right,” He replied dismissively, finally glancing over to the couch where his best friend sat. “You rearranged the furniture?” Blaise cocked his head in question at the blonde.

“Ah, yes....I suppose we did,” Draco replied rather awkwardly, trying his best to restrain himself from grinding his throbbing hips downward. This was made even more difficult by Harry—who was quite aroused himself—moving his hands around to grip the blonde’s ass firmly and ever so slightly raising his hips up jut against the warm firmness of the Slytherin’s butt.

Draco resisted a groan at the sensation and threw a quick glare down at the tousled Gryffindor—warning him with a silent look to refrain from any further administrations. Harry threw his own scowl back and mouthed something akin to _‘Send him home!’_.

Again, thankfully Blaise’s eyes had taken to wandering around the room, so this exchange went unnoticed. “You don’t sound too enthused about it.....Did your roommate make you move the furniture?”

The blonde shrugged his shoulders with a slight roll of his eyes. “Yeah, I guess. He wanted a change, so....”

Blaise clicked his tongue and flitted his eyes towards the staircase. “Is he home?”

“Ah, no....I think he went out to get groceries.....,” Draco lied with another shrug, earning an annoyed pinch on the ass from his dark haired lover. Draco knew that Harry was likely already reaching the end of his temper, but he reached down and swatted the hand away from his butt anyways as he struggled to remain impassive.

“Huh.....I don’t know why you stick around here,” Blaise muttered idly, wrinkling his nose slightly in disdain. “This apartment is so _small—_ not to mention that it’s in the middle of muggle residentials, and from what I hear from you, you’re always complaining about your roommate...”

Draco groaned internally as he felt the hands on his thighs tighten their grip. “I don’t remember ever complaining about him to you,” He sighed with a frown.

“Well, you haven’t in so many words,” Blaise returned with a mild shrug. “It just seems that way from what I hear about him and how you guys live together.”

The dark skinned Slytherin rose from his perch on the chair and began strolling idly around the living room. “He seems very dominant and controlling.”

Harry stiffened beneath Draco and shot a glare up at the blonde—who ignored it in favor of keeping an eye on his friend.

“He’s....not,” The blonde replied somewhat defensively, though he wasn’t quite sure himself if he was lying or not.

“He’s not gay, is he?”

Draco froze and tilted his head suspiciously. “......Why are you asking that....?”

“ _Because_ ,” The Italian replied with a scoff. “It would be troublesome if such a dominant person like that were to take advantage of poor Dray-Dray.”

“ _Take advantage..!_ ” Harry hissued angrily, barely able to restrain himself as Draco quickly put a hand over his mouth to silence him.

“ _Blaise,_ ” The blonde growled in annoyance, shooting down his friend’s playful smirk with a scowl.

Blaise raised his hands in defense and gave a chuckle. “Seriously though, what if he comes on to you?” The Slytherin suddenly stopped and stared at Draco intently. “......Or has he already....?”

Draco caught the flush that rose to his cheeks and rolled his eyes to cover for it. “Oh please—bugger off you prat. Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean that every man is out to get me.”

“Ah, well...it’s best to be on the safe side....,” Blaise relented with a sigh, searching around for something. “Where’s the control stick for the Telly?”

“The _remote_ , Blaise,” The blonde sighed with a roll of his eyes. He caught sight of it at the end of the couch that he and Harry were currently occupying, and slowly reached for it while trying to inconspicuously push his lover off the couch. “Ah, you look over there by the Telly—I’ll check if it’s here in the couch cushions...”

Draco grabbed the remote and bent down as he pretended to fish the remote control from between the cushions of the couch.

“Hurry up and go upstairs before he comes over here and sees you!” He whispered furiously to Harry, motioning to the staircase rapidly. Harry sent a loathing scowl to the blonde, but did as instructed—waiting until he was sure that Blaise’s gaze was occupied in a different direction, then crouching down and stealthily making his way to the staircase a few steps away.

“Aha, found it mate,” Draco announced quickly as Harry crept onto the first stair of the staircase and dashed up. “Like I said, between the cushions.”

“Splendid—we should be just in time to tune in for the show!” The dark skinned male exclaimed with a grin, strolling over to take a seat next to Draco on the couch. He stopped short, however, and gave the couch a once over before raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Forgive me if my sense of interior decorating is outdated, but why in Merlin’s name would have your couch facing the kitchen instead of the Telly?”

Draco shifted on the couch and shrugged his shoulders somewhat uncomfortably. “Something different?” He offered with another shrug, reaching the remote up and turning the Television on.

“Well I happen to think that’s bloody ridiculous,” Blaise muttered as he reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand. “Step aside,” The dark skinned male demanded with a slight swish of the wrist, sending the unsuspecting blonde sprawling on the floor.

“The bloody hell was that for?!” Draco intoned indignantly, sending the Italian a seething glare.

Blaise shrugged innocently and swished his wand a few times, sending the couch up into the air before spinning it around and dropping it back to the ground. “ _There_. Now we can watch from the couch comfortably.”

The Slytherin flopped back onto the couch and gazed down at his friend still sprawled on the carpet. “Why are you only in your boxers?” He asked suddenly, raising a groomed eyebrow suspiciously.

Draco scowled up at Blaise with newly remembered annoyance. “I was just going to get dressed....,” He bit through his teeth, dragging his feet over to the staircase with a scowl pasted firmly to his face.

“Alright then—hurry back!” Blaise sing-songed over his shoulder—just catching sight of the boxer-clad blonde making his way up the staircase with perhaps a bit more force in his steps than necessary.

“Wonder what his problem is.......,” He mumbled with a frown, finally directing his gaze up towards the screen mounted across from him on the wall. “Ah yeah! I love The Great British Bake Off!”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

Draco reached the top of the staircase with a fit of huffs—immediately turning into his and his lover’s bedroom.

A pair of cool green eyes immediately glanced up and locked on his before narrowing in annoyance.

“Did you get rid of him?” Harry asked lowly.

“.......Not _yet_.....,” Draco replied somewhat guiltily.

Harry gave an exasperated sigh and dropped his head forward onto the book that he had been reading in front of him. Though he knew he ought to feel some sort of remorse, Draco couldn’t help but take a moment to admire the way his lover’s ass looked when he laid in bed on his stomach like that. And combined with the fact that he’s still only wearing boxers......

_“ACK!!...No, not like that you- NO....Merlin’s beard!!!”_

Draco’s shoulders jerked in surprise at the sudden commotion, but it didn’t take him long to figure out where, or who, it came from. “.... _Blaise_ —”

_“MY GRANDMUM CAN MAKE A BETTER CRÈME PÂTISSIÈRE THAN THAT AND SHE’S BEEN DEAD FOR FORTY YEARS, MERLIN BLESS HER SOUL.......Oh for the love of Salazar.....Noooooooooo....You lot of bloody idiots................”_

Draco groaned in annoyance and threw a loathing glare at the door when he head Blaise yelling at the Telly from downstairs. Harry bore an equally put-out expression as he raised his head to look for the source of the commotion.

“Malfoy, I _swear_ ; either get rid of him, or I’m gonna have to,” Harry finally snapped—redirecting his glare up at the pair of grey puppy dog eyes pleading innocence down at him.

“I’m sorry.....please don’t be mad~ It’s not like it was my fault that he came over here unannounced....,” Draco pouted and jutted his lip out childishly, trying to rack up some kind of pity points from his lover.

The dark haired wizard felt his scowl start to cave at the pitiful look directed towards him— and he finally relented with a sigh.

“Fine, it’s not your fault....but just hurry up and get rid of him. I don’t want to waste our entire weekend together because Zabini keeps coming over here.”

The blonde perked up and swooped down to drop a chaste kiss on his lover’s lips. “Don’t worry love—15 minutes and he’s gone!”

Harry smirked and returned the kiss with one of his own as he rolled off of the bed and stretched his arms over his head.

“Alright. It’s....2:30 now—,” The green eyed wizard confirmed after glancing up at the clock on their wall. “I’m gonna go take a bath, so you can chat for a bit with your mate and then kindly excuse him—alright? We can have lunch after that.”

Draco nodded enthusiastically and watched Harry stride out of the room and into their master bathroom. Mind made up, the blonde waltzed into their walk-in closet to find some clothes to wear.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

After donning one of Harry’s faded band tees and a simple pair of ripped jeans (nothing, though, compared to favorite, white, limited edition, 500 galleon, vintage distressed, custom-fitted, designer jeans mind you), Draco finally made his way to the staircase— not 5 minutes having passed since he left Blaise in the living room alone. The sight he came back to upon descending the staircase back to the living room was pretty much spot on with what he expected.

_“Ahh, you bloody TOSSER!.....NO........YOUR PIE IS GONNA HAVE A SOGGY BOTTOM! NOBODY LIKES A SOGGY BOTTOM!”_

Blaise was still sacked out against the cushions of the sofa as he continued to hurl insults towards the television screen—waving a hand around violently for apparent increased emphasis. Draco sighed in defeat. There was no way that he was going to be able to convince Blaise to leave now that he had immersed himself in the middle of an episode of his favorite show.

“Hey mate—look, I hate to ruin your day, but something just came up suddenly so I’m gonna need you to scram,” He tried bluntly, not bothering to sound remorseful when he knew full well that his shag with Harry was on the line.

Either Blaise didn’t hear him, or merely chose to ignore him (the blonde bet the latter), for the dark skinned Italian paid no heed to the words directed towards him and chose to continue watching his show—throwing another few taunts at the screen happily.

Draco pursed his lips and heaved an annoyed sigh—swiping the remote control for the television off of the coffee table and turning the Telly off. “Blaise mate, I’m serious. I need you to clear out.”

This time Blaise lifted his head off of the back of the couch enough to turn his head and meet the blonde’s glare. “ _Whyyyyy~?_ ”

The “cutesy” voice and pout that Blaise adopted merely prompted a scathing eye roll from the other Slytherin. No one except for Draco would ever know that the cool Italian playboy that broke hearts on a daily basis would have such a side to him—watching muggle cooking shows and trying to act cute to get his way.

Draco sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“ _Because._ ”

“ _Because_ isn’t an answer Dray.”

“Fine. My evening depends on it then.”

“Oh?” That pulled a surprised looked from Blaise before it quickly turned into a mischievous smirk. “Got a hot date~?”

Draco bit his tongue.

“Something like that,” He mumbled.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?!” Blaise exclaimed excitedly, jumping up off of the couch with renewed vigor.“Ah this is so exciting! My little Dray Dray spreading his wings off into the world of romance~!”

Blaise clapped his hands happily and strolled past Draco into the kitchen. “So you’re having dinner here later, I assume? So what were you planning on cooking; French? Maybe, Italian? I am a bit of an expert in that particular area....”

Draco sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t need any help, thanks Blaise.”

The Italian scoffed and turned an offended look on the blonde. “You don’t need my help?”

Another scoff.

“Of course you need my help Dray Dray. Love Doctor Zabini is in the house.”

Draco looked doubtful. “Blaise, seriously. We’ve......actually been seeing each other for a while.....”

That made Blaise’s jaw drop to the floor. He stood open-mouthed and gaped at the remorseless face of his best friend. “You......you.......YOU’VE BEEN DATING SOMEBODY AND YOU HAVEN’T TOLD ME?!?!?”

The blonde shrugged and made an _‘Oops, oh well’_ sort of face.

“Details, Draco! Details!” The dark skinned male demanded, eyes glittering with excitement at this new found revelation.

The blonde’s face screwed into a puzzled face as he tried desperately to think of what he could say to feed his best friend’s curiosity without revealing who he was actually dating.

“Well......he’s a guy for starters...” Draco offered hesitantly.

Blaise rolled his eyes at the meaningless information.

“Well obviously Dray. I couldn’t have been more surprised than if you told me you were dating a Hippogriff.” He returned sarcastically—waving his hand for the blonde to keep dishing out information. “Wizard, or Muggle?”

Draco cocked his head curiously at the question. “You wouldn’t mind if I dated a Muggle?”

Blaise rolled his eyes and shook his head dramatically. “Of course not. The only people who still care about those kind of things anymore are the old-timers; basically meaning our parents and anyone older.” He chuckled mischievously and continued. “I’ve even had the Muggle boyfriend or two over the last few years...”

“Is that so....” Draco smirked wryly, raising an amused eyebrow at the prospect. “Anyways, glad to know you’re not prejudiced—but he is a wizard...”

An interested _‘Ah’_ came from Blaise’s mouth as he stroked his chin in thought. “Does he work at the Ministry?”

The blonde hesitated with a wince, but slowly nodded his head. “.....Uh, yeah....he does...”

“ _Oh~?_ Anybody I would know then~?”

The positively giddy tone that Blaise was using made Draco weary. He knew that he couldn’t risking exposing a more information than that for fear of Blaise putting all of the pieces together. The Italian could be deceptively perceptive when he wanted to be.

“...No, no. I, uh....don’t think you would know him.....,” Draco lied with a shrug.

Blaise narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his friend. “Uh huh.....On another note though, you should really introduce me to your roommate sometime! I mean, you’ve lived here for sometime now and it seems rude to keep coming over without introducing myself!”

“Yeah, yeah....I should.....,” The blonde commented idly, suddenly catching sight of his cellphone vibrating on the kitchen counter. “Hang on just a sec....”

Though Draco had originally been against integrating many Muggle objects into his and his lover’s flat, Harry had finally convinced him that there were quite a few different Muggle inventions that were quite beneficial for day to day use. The Telly for example. And another one of his recent favorites; the toaster. While one certainly could use magic to toast a piece of bread to the perfect stage of golden-brown-crispy-crunchiness, there was just something so fascinating about putting a piece of bread into that silver box and watching it pop out minutes later.

After seeing Draco interacting so well with Muggle objects, Harry had finally taken the next step about a year ago in purchasing Draco his own cellphone. While the learning curve for using it had been fairly steep to begin with, months of use had made the blonde Slytherin a pro at using one—so much so that he didn’t know how he had lived up until that point without one. Said cellphone though, was currently vibrating on the counter—and knowing that he had only one contact in his phone, Draco knew it had to be Harry.

“Ah, will you excuse me for a moment Blaise? I’m gonna go use the loo.”

“Uh, sure...?”

Draco quickly snagged his cellphone off of the counter and shoved it into his jeans pocket before navigating to the lower level bathroom.

After he was safe behind the confines of a locked door, Draco perched on the counter and whipped out his phone.

**_ 1 New Message _ **

_**Harry:** Draco, I just got out of the bath and I can still hear Zabini downstairs. It’s been 30 minutes. What’s going on?_

Draco groaned and chewed on his lip before typing back an answer.

_**Draco:** Sorry Love. I’m trying to get him to leave, but he just keeps pestering me about meeting me roommate and boyfriend._

_**Harry:** You mean me?_

_**Draco:** Who else you dork?_

_**Harry:** Hmpf. Whatever, it’s your choice. Guess you can stay here and hang out with Zabini and then sleep on the couch tonight._

_**Draco:** Oh don’t be that way. You know that as much as I do that I’d much rather be upstairs shagging right now. (And did you seriously just type out ‘Hmpf’..?!)_

_**Harry:** Fine. If he wants to meet your roommate and boyfriend so badly then I’ll just have to come downstairs and meet him. (And yes, I did. It’s how I’m expressing myself at the moment)_

_**Draco:** ...Are you sure you’re ready for this...?_

_**Harry:** I should be the one asking you. I told you last time that we were gonna have to come out to your friends next, remember?_

_**Draco:** Alright, as long as you’re sure._

_**Harry:** I’ll go get dressed and then come downstairs._

_**Draco:** Get dressed?_

_**Harry:** Well I just got out of the bath tub, so I’m not wearing anything._

_**Draco:**............_

_**Draco:** Send me a picture~ :)_

_**Harry:** Bugger off you prat._

Apparently that was the end of the conversation, so Draco heaved a begrudging sigh and exited the bathroom back into the living room. Blaise had a apparently figured out the basis of how to work the remote control, so he was back in his position on the couch watching the same Muggle cooking show that he had been preoccupied with before.

“....You really like this show that much?” Draco questioned with a snort, sinking down onto the couch next to the tanned Slytherin.

“Ah, you’re back. Took you long enough,” Blaise muttered petulantly before nodding his head enthusiastically in answer to the question. “Yeah, I think it’s a really funny show!”

“I see.....,” The blonde replied somewhat monotonously. He and Harry didn’t watch a ton of TV- they did indulge in movies quite a few nights of the week when they had the time though.

After a few more moments of relative silence watching the show, Draco finally steeled himself and opened his mouth. “So....you wanted to meet my roommate, right?”

Blaise glanced to the side to meet his friend’s eyes and nodded with a grin. “Course I do~!”

“Ah, well...it seems like he’s going to be here soon so......I guess you’ll have a chance to meet him...”

“Is that right? Cool, can’t wait!” Blaise replied easily, fixing his eyes back onto the Telly.

Draco shifted uncomfortably, but tried his best to conceal it by focusing on the show.

Suddenly, he could hear the faint sound of footsteps padding lightly down the staircase. His heartbeat increased but he forced himself to remain calm as he turned slightly to see the figure emerge from the bottom of the staircase.

Dressed in a pair faded jeans and slightly oversized sweatshirt, Harry strolled quietly into the living room and leaned back against the dining table with a cross of his arms. He was now completely behind the couch, so Blaise took no notice of the new figure in the room—however Draco was having a hard time taking his eyes off of him. There may not‘ve been anything fancy or stylish with the outfit that Harry had chosen to display himself in— but Draco though he looked absolutely shaggable.

He cleared his throat discretely and nudged Blaise to get the Italian’s eyes off of the Telly screen. “Uh, Blaise....my.....roommate.....”

Draco stood up for the couch and gestured to Harry behind him, scratching the back of his neck in anxiousness.

Blaise grinned and rose from the couch, turning to meet the figure his friend was gesturing towards. “Pleasure to meet yo—” The Slytherin stopped and raised an interested eyebrow, an amused smirk slowly drawing its way into his lips.

“Potter.” Blaise extended a hand forward courteously.

Harry steeled himself for a worse reaction, raising one of his own brows in slight surprise at the docile behavior.

“Zabini.” He returned, accepting the tanned Slytherins hand with a firm shake.

Blaise grinned and released Harry’s hand, turning to the slightly cringing face of his best friend. “Naughty, naughty Dray Dray. Did you really think that you could keep this a secret from me~?”

The mischievous smirk playing on the Italian’s lips sent a jolt of unease through Harry’s spine, though he chose not to say anything.

“You...you _knew?!_ ” Draco sputtered, his normally calm and composed face turning pale with astonishment.

Blaise grinned like the Cheshire Cat, obviously immensely enjoying himself.

Harry furrowed his brow suspiciously. “How? Not even the Ministry knows that we’re living together....Well, except for Kingsley—but that’s because he’s the one that assigned us as Auror partners...”

“I have my resources~” Blaise merely replied silkily, clicking his tongue and sending Harry a wink.

Draco scowled and pursed his lips in annoyance. “So I guess that means that you know we’re dating too?”

Harry steeled himself again, but Blaise simply chuckled wryly. “I didn’t know that one for sure...but it’s what I guessed.” He turned and shot a slightly annoyed look to Draco. “I kept waiting for you to bring it up yourself, but you never did. So that’s why I’ve been trying to initiate it myself, but even then.....”

Harry felt a wave of ease and relief wash over him, but Draco’s scowl seemed to deepen. Blaise laughed and shook his head at his friend’s behavior. “I’m sorry to say, but I think you think too little of me as your friend, mate. Did you think that I wouldn’t notice changes in your behavior at all? Tsk tsk, simpleminded Dray Dray—thinking that the world only revolves as he wants it to.” Blaise chuckled and walked slowly to the fireplace, sending another gloating smirk.

“Don’t worry, I’m polite enough to know when I’ve worn out my welcome~ I’ll get leaving so you two can continue your shag that I interrupted earlier.”

Draco froze and Blaise’s grin only grew all the more.

“I’m telling you Draco—you severely underestimate me~”

“Prig...,” The blonde shot back, still scowling at the leering smirk pasted on the Italian’s face.

“Have fun you two lovebirds~!” Blaise stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder.“Oh, and don’t worry. I’ll take the liberty of telling Pans and Theo about this, so expect an owl from them soon~!” The Italian called and sent one last wink before throwing his powder and disappearing into flames.

“Bloody hell, I can’t take this anymore....” Draco sighed with a groan, leaning against the counter and cradling his head in his hand.

“Haha, well....at least that about covers the extent of our _“need to tell”_ list....” Harry soothed with a chuckle.

“Thank Merlin for that....ugh, I need some alcohol.”

“While normally I’m against day drinking....what say you we break out the Firewhiskey and settle in for some Telly before we have lunch?” Harry offered with a grin, already reaching for the bottle.

“Fine. But I swear, if I don’t get shagged tonight I’m gonna go crazy,” Draco complained as he flopped onto the couch with a huff.

“Don’t worry, I have something special planned for you being such a good boy and putting up with all of this,” Harry promised and settled down onto the couch next to the blonde, passing him a glass of Firewhiskey.

Draco smirked and took a long gulp of the strong alcohol, savoring in the searing heat that left in his throat as he swallowed it. “Well I can’t wait to see what it is~”

Harry chuckled and raised his glass. “To friends, family, and finally being out.”

“Couldn’t have said it better.” Draco laughed and brought their glasses together with a _‘clink’_.

“Now we just need to make a formal announcement at work....”

“No way in hell, Potter.”

“You sure? It’ll be much easier if we just get everything up and on the table—”

“No.”

“Aw, Alright......another time then...”

“ _Potter.”_

“Yes, _Malfoy_?”

“Shut up.”

“Haha, I love you too.....”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How’s everybody doing~? Good, I hope!
> 
> Here’s the latest installment of the YDW! Series. Things are starting to get more interesting as more characters are being introduced~
> 
> If you like what you read, leave a comment~

  **Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Bloody hell...I can’t believe that we’re actually going through with this...”

“Just _relax—_ everything will turn out just fine...probably...”

“ _Probab—_ Potter! You do realize that you’re essentially orchestrating our funeral right now, don’t you?!”

“Oh stop being such a drama queen, Malfoy. Going out to lunch with friends is nowhere near death on the danger scale.” 

Draco threw an incredulous look down at his lover—whom was sitting placidly on the couch- as he continued to pace and rant around their living room.

“That’s what _you_ think! You’re getting together a group of _Slytherins and Gryffindors_ , putting them _all together_ in the _same room_ , and expecting them to get along without trying to tear each other’s throats out...” He deadpanned with a dramatic wave of his hands for emphasis.

“I mean, sure—we already told Granger, Weaslebe, and Blaise about us- but that’s only half of the party that you’re inviting! Add in Theo, Pansy, and Weaslette and I’m pretty sure things are gonna go downhill real fast...”

Harry suppressed a chuckle and patted to the spot next to him. “Sit down and just try to relax, love. You’re gonna wear a hole in the floor with all of your pacing..”

The blonde scowled but did as he lover bade and slumped down onto the sofa with a huff.

“I still don’t think this is a good idea...”

“It’ll be _fine_ , Draco.”

“It’s not too late to cancel.”

“Our reservation is already set.”

“I think I’m sick.”

“Draco, enough.” Harry soothed with a chuckle. “Everything is going to be just fine.”

Draco huffed and scowled at the raven haired male as he threaded their fingers together calmly.

“How come you get to be so calm and collected about all of this...” He muttered petulantly.

“Blame it on Gryffindor bravery.” Harry replied with a smirk, squeezing his hand gently.

The blonde huffed and pouted his lips. “Well my Slytherin intellect is telling me that you’re gonna need every ounce of that Gryffindor bravery to survive this afternoon...” 

Harry rolled his eyes at the dramatic statement. “Honestly Draco, what’s the worst that could happen?” 

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

Harry knew he’d regret saying those words, and though they hadn’t yet been put to the test—he had the unnerving feeling that they were going to be.

He and Draco had arrived first at the quaint French cafe that they had agreed to set their luncheon at, (per Draco’s request), and sat at their table while they waited for their other guests to arrive. Blaise had been the next to arrive soon after, all smiles and not seeming nervous at all about the whole meeting. Seeing as he had been the most accepting of their relationship so far, his presence actually helped Harry to relax a little—lightening the atmosphere at the same time. A few minutes of talking with his best mate, and Draco’s anxiety seemed to lessen substantially as well.

“So...you talked to Pansy and Theo, then? About... Harry and I..?” Draco asked his fellow Slytherin hesitantly—almost forgotten anxiety slowly creeping back into his voice at the topic he wanted least to discuss.

“I did...” Blaise replied with a slight smirk. “I sent them each an owl, at least.”

“...And?”

“And...” The dark skinned Slytherin drew out a long pause with an evil grin. “Theo laughed and said that he didn’t believe me, and Pansy said that she’d have to see it to believe it...” 

Draco groaned slightly and dropped his head to the table. Well, that was as good as them not knowing then. Blaise patted his mate lightly on the back and turned to the raven haired male that had been quiet for entirety of the 10 minutes that he had been there. 

“So who else should I expect to be seeing here? You invited a few of your mates, Potter?” Blaise asked with an easy smile as he noticed Harry glancing backwards towards the entrance every so often.

“Huh? Oh, yeah...Ron and Hermione, and Ginny too...” The Gryffindor replied a bit tersely, and Draco nearly laughed at the irony.

“So you can tell me to man up and be brave and pretend to use your _‘Gryffindor courage’_ but you really feel the same as me, is that it?” The blonde deadpanned with the quirk of an unimpressed brow—to which Harry sent his own pouting frown back.

“Well I wasn’t feeling as anxious earlier, but now...” His eyes swept back to the entrance of the cafe for the fourth time that minute as he strummed his fingers on the table restlessly. “I don’t know why I’m feeling this nervous now...” 

Blaise chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “I think you two are both overreacting. These are your best mates that you’re talking about—I don’t think things could possibly turn out as horribly as you’re imagining that they could.” 

Harry cringed at the similar phrasing to the words that he had been replaying in his head. “As much as I’d like to believe you...”

_Ding-a-ling~_

The crisp sound of a bell filled the cafe, and as the party looked toward the sound, the oak door of the cafe suddenly swung open wide as two figures walked in. 

“Ah, Ron and Hermione are here...You two stay here...” Harry hissed quietly, standing up and smoothing his shirt down nervously as he made his way back to the front door to greet his friends.

“Ah, Hey you guys...” He greeted awkwardly, walking up to the pair and running his fingers through his not-as-unkempt-as-usual hair (thanks to some intervention and hair products on his lover’s behalf).

Ron and Hermione turned as they caught sight of their best friend.

“Harry, it’s so nice to see you,” Hermione greeted warmly, stepping forwards to give him her customary greeting hug. 

“Hey Hermione,” Harry murmured back— breathing a slight sigh of relief at her normal attitude before releasing her and turning to the redhead next to her.

“Harry, good to see you mate,” Ron clapped him on the back with a friendly grin.

“Ron.” He grinned back with a nod.

“So what’s the occasion? You weren’t very specific in your owl,” Hermione asked cheerfully.

“Oh well...” Harry fumbled over his words as he tried to think of the most tactful way to explain to his friends about the purpose of this luncheon. Against his better judgement he had invited the three of his friends with an invitation that only gave the vague notion of having lunch together.

_Who all would be attending..._ Well, they were going to find out soon.

“...We just thought it would be nice to...catch up,” He finally offered with another awkward brush of his fingers through his hair.

“ _We?_ ” Hermione asked with a slightly puzzled look on her face before a flash of dawning crossed her face. “ _Oh_ , you mean...” 

Ron apparently caught on and scowled slightly. “Is that—er...is your...him, you know...Is _he_ here...?” 

If Harry wasn’t so nervous about this entire luncheon, he would’ve burst out laughing at Ron’s evasive ‘beat-around-the-bush’ type of speech.

“C’mon, I’ll show you to our table,” The raven haired male replied instead, gesturing for the pair to follow him further back into the cafe.

Hermione threw Ron a pointed look behind Harry’s back as they followed—and the redhead understood it as a silent warning to be on his best behavior, or there would be consequences later. They quickly reached the table in question, and Harry stopped and stepped to the side slightly—once again, running his fingers through his hair.

“Uh...Ron, Hermione...you remember Draco...?” The Gryffindor began poorly, gesturing lightly to his lover sitting at the large, circular table. Draco glanced up at hearing his name, coffee cup in hand, and offered a small smirk.

Ron immediately frowned. “You say that like we didn’t go to school for 7 years with that git...” 

“Ron...” Hermione chastised with a frown, but even she didn’t try to hide her apparent displeasure at seeing the blonde Slytherin again.

“I was honestly hoping that that whole meeting was just a bad dream...” The redhead muttered sourly, throwing the smirking blonde a loathing look. 

Draco smirked evilly and reached for his lover’s hand. “What’s wrong Weaslebe? You upset because I snatched him first?” The blonde turned and kissed Harry’s hand gently before pulling on it to get him to sit down.

Hermione and Ron’s eyes both widened at the Slytherin’s unabashed displays of affection.

Harry, thankfully suspecting that his lover was about to do something stupid and embarrassing, was able to tamp down the better part of his reaction—but he still couldn’t fight the slight blush rising to his cheeks. It was nothing though, compared to the full-on rush of blood that went straight to Ron’s face—coloring it a vivid a red.

“Draco, stop,” Harry murmured as he took his seat back at the table next to the blonde. 

“But I didn’t do anything!” Draco protested in return, paying no heed to the other Gryffindors as they slowly sank, shell-shocked, into seats next to Harry’s.

“You know _full well_ what you did.”

“Honesty, I have _no idea_ what you’re talking about...”

“Oh _really_...”

“ _Really_...”

Ron watched the pair banter with an increasingly sickening expression painting his face. “Bloody hell...you two must be together—or else you must just really like having lover’s spats...”

Hermione muttered something under her breath akin to agreement, but Harry decided to ignore the snarky quips from his fiends for the time being as he turned back to his lover.

“Hmm?” Harry glanced on the side of the blonde and frowned. “Where did Zabini go?”

“What?” Draco glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, he went to loo...” 

“Ahh...I see...”

Silence stretched over the table, and Harry struggled to find a topic that he could talk about. 

“Um...So how has work been at the Ministry?” He tried tentatively, glancing between his two friends.

“It’s...been going well.” Hermione offered with a slightly strained smile, glancing at Ron for comment. 

“Yeah...same old-same old I s’pose...” The redhead muttered with a shrug, for some reason taking a fascination in the table cloth and not lifting his eyes. 

“You two work at the Ministry as well?” This time it was Draco’s voice that cut in, and he glanced at the pair with an expression akin to honest curiosity.

Hermione hesitated for a moment to see if Harry would bail her out, then opened her mouth with a nod. “Y-yes...Ronald and I are currently working in the Bureau of Intermagical Wizarding Law.”

Draco quirked a brow. “Oh? I don’t think I’ve heard of that department...”

“It’s a newer department that Kingsley had established when he became Minister of Magic after the war. Our job is basically to evaluate the current laws around the Wizarding World— some that have to do with the safety and protection of magic from Muggles, some are just the laws of magic themselves. We then decide if the laws are working, and if they’re not what we need to do to change them and make them effective...” She trailed off and her cheeks tinged pink when she realized that she had started rambling, and quickly looked away to avoid eye contact with the Slytherin. 

“Hmm, sounds fascinating...” The blonde drawled curiously, taking a sip of coffee from his cup before turning to his partner. “I ordered you some coffee when you left, it should be here in a moment...I don’t know if your friends want to order anything while we wait for the rest of our party to show...”

Harry nodded his head and turned back to the pair to pass on the message—just as Blaise strolled back to the table, returning to his seat next to Draco. 

“Ah, apologies...I guess I missed the greetings..” He drawled smoothly, turning an interested gaze to the new pair of Gryffindors sitting at the table. 

Harry gazed worriedly at Hermione and Ron as they traded suspicious glances. He wondered if he should intervene, but before he could open his mouth, Blaise had already risen from his seat and strolled around the table to greet the new faces.

“Weasley...and Granger, right? Blaise Zabini, at your service.” He offered his hand to Hermione, who took it with obvious tentativeness.

“P-pleasure.” She responded nervously, and Blaise took that chance to bring her hand to his lips, gently kissing the back.

Hermione immediately flushed scarlet and Ron’s face turned purple as he started sputtering angrily. 

“Ah.” Blaise glanced down at Hermione’s hand again, ignoring the furious redhead. “I suppose you’re not Granger anymore though.” He examined the glittering diamond ring decorating the brunette’s dainty ring finger, and released her hand with a smirk.

“Can I take it from your reaction that you’re the lucky man?” The Slytherin turned to Ron with a widening grin.

Ron glowered at the dark skinned male a raised a fist threateningly. “Y-you! Leave her alone you no good!—”

“R-Ronald! That’s enough, alright?” Hermione cut in, placing a hand over his large fist and lowering it down as the color slowly faded from his face. 

Harry watched the interaction with no small amount of utter mortification, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything to try and remedy the situation. 

“Bloody hell, you two are married?” Draco cut in with an honest look of surprise on his face.

“What’s it to you Malfoy?” Ron glowered back as Blaise returned to his seat next to the blonde.

Draco raised his hands slightly and shrugged. “Nothing, just surprised that you guys got married so young is all...” 

“I think there are a lot of people that are taking life seriously after surviving through the war...if another experience like that ever comes up...Well, I think people are done taking their loved ones for granted...” Harry offered wisely, and the blonde’s expression softened in understanding. 

“I suppose, that makes sense...” Draco drifted off quietly, suddenly staring at the wall in deep thought. 

“Ah Potter, what time can we expect the rest of our company to arrive at?” Blaise cut in suddenly, trying to steer the mood away from quiet and depressing.

Harry glanced at his wristwatch. “Um...I’m not sure...Ginny never actually replied to my owl, so I’m not sure if she’s actually coming.....Dray?” He touched his lover’s arm lightly to get him to snap out of his staring contest with the wall.

“Yes?”

“What time will Nott and Parkinson be here?” 

Draco redirected the gaze to Blaise with a questioning glance.

“Oh! I think they said that they were going to be coming together after work—I guess they picked up an extra shift today...so probably 10...15 minutes..?” The Italian replied after glancing down at his own wristwatch. 

“There you go, 10 minutes,” Draco reiterated to his lover, who nodded in response.

Hermione frowned slightly at hearing their conversation. “Harry, there are more people coming here?” 

“Ah, well...”

Draco turned a slightly appalled look on his lover. “You invited them here without even telling them who was going to be here, and _why_?”

Blaise snickered slightly and cast an apologetic glance over to Ron and Hermione. “Ah. So I see my presence wasn’t made known to you before you arrived.”

Harry had the grace to look slightly bashful as Ron threw an accusatory scowl over at his supposed best friend.

“No matter—no harm done I suppose,” The dark skinned male continued, offering the pair of Gryffindors a bright grin. “Let me fully introduce myself then. Blaise Zabini—best and one of only three friends of the snarky ice prince Draco Malfoy. We went to school together...not that you guys probably remember me since I was in Slytherin, obviously...”

Draco made a noise of protest at his apparent description, but Blaise shushed him before he could get a word in.

“Anyways, I found out that Dray Dray was dating someone about 6 or 7 months ago, but I didn’t come to find that it was the boy wonder until quite recently, though I did have my suspicions...” He trailed off with a mischievous smirk, and all three Gryffindors shuddered at the lethal sheen in his eyes.

Ron scowled and took the momentary lapse in silence to butt in. “So you don’t have any problem whatsoever that your supposed best mate is dating our best mate?”

Blaise shrugged with an easy grin. “Why would I? He’s obviously happy—the happiest I’ve honestly ever seen him. I would give my blessing to him no matter who he chose to be with—so long as I’m sure that he’ll remain happy.”

The four remaining members of the party all shared an equal shudder at the poetically cheesy lines that he delivered with a straight face. 

“You sure are... _different_ from what I thought you’d be like...” Hermione finally commented with a slight quirk of her head.

“Oh~?” The Italian quirked his lips into a daring smirk. “Did I disappoint you~?” His tone dropped and took on a flirty note as he stared the brunette down.

“Oi, back off,” Ron interjected menacingly, glaring down the Slytherin until he released his gaze with a chuckle.

“Alright, Alright...take it easy...”

“Bloody hell...and to think that _you’re_ the person that people entrust their children to...” Draco lamented with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that those children love me!” Blaise exclaimed with a pout. 

“Children...?” Hermione questioned with a frown. 

“This prick works in the Pediatric ward at St. Mungo’s...” The blonde supplied tiredly, rolling his eyes as Blaise puffed his chest out proudly.

“That’s right! Healer Zabini—certified favorite Doctor of all at the pediatric ward at St. Mungo’s, at your service.” The Slytherin replied with a flourish of his hands and a grandiose bow of his head.

Draco rolled his eyes again. “Humble as ever, aren’t you.”

Harry relaxed into a smile at the sight of his lover looking much more relaxed than he had been earlier. _Honestly speaking, Zabini really isn’t that bad of a guy..._  

Draco and Blaise continued to bicker back and forth, and soon Hermione began to converse quietly with Ron. Harry glanced around awkwardly at the lack of a conversational partner before he noticed a waiter walking towards their table, levitating several coffee cups in front of him.

“Alright, I have some coffee here for you guys~ ” He stopped in front of the table with a smile. “So who do these go to~?”

Harry glanced at Draco, but he was still in the middle of a bicker fest with Blaise. Since he was the one that had ordered the drinks, Harry didn’t actually know whose drinks were whose.

“Ah, sorry...You can just leave them here— we’ll get it sorted out,” Harry finally replied with an apologetic grin, realizing that nobody else at the table was going to speak up.

“Alrigh—Oh~? You’re Harry Potter~!” The waiter’s eyes suddenly opened wide and he gushed with a gleam in his eye. “You’re the one that defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! You’re a war hero!”

Harry flushed at the praise and quickly shook his head. “Oh, no—please. I’m nobody that deserves that kind of praise...” 

Draco finally turned away from Blaise at the sound of his lover’s embarrassed voice.

“—You should really let me buy you a drink sometime~ I’d love to get to know you on a more... _personal_ basis, hehe~” The waiter continued, offering him a charming smile. 

The raven haired wizard floundered awkwardly at the waiter’s insistent invitation, and opened his mouth repeatedly as he struggled with what to say.

“Thank you, for the invitation...But you’re taken—isn’t that right, love?” Draco cut in suddenly, wrapping a possessive arm over Harry’s shoulders and staring the man down with a cool look in his piercing grey eyes. Hermione and Ron glanced up, and their eyes bulged once again at the Slytherin’s unabashed display of affection for their friend—while Blaise merely smirked in amusement.

The waiter scowled slightly at the blonde before flashing Harry another smile. “No matter—I’d still love have a drink with you sometime~” 

“Ah...” Harry opened his mouth to finally refute the man, but he quickly turned on his heel and stalked away before any words could escape the Gryffindor’s lips.

“...He left...”

Draco scowled and released his hold around his lover’s shoulders with a huff. “You’re too bloody defenseless...”

“I am _not_.”

“You are bloody _too_.”

“No, you just get too upset when somebody comes and talks to me!” 

“I wouldn’t have to be if they didn’t come with such shameless intentions on their face!”

“Draco, honestly...I’m a full grown man, I’m pretty sure I can take it...”

“It’s simply _because_ you’re a full grown man and they know you can take it that they’re hitting on you...” 

“Did you just—?!”

“Turn your comment into an innuendo? Yes. Yes I did.” 

While the three Gryffindor’s gaped, Blaise merely snickered and moved around the table to where the coffee cups had been placed. “Now now—this can’t be helped. Potter’s not used to being hit on, and Draco’s never had anyone he needed to be jealous of, so of course you’re both going to have opposing opinions on the matter~” 

Draco threw a glare over at the dark skinned male. “Oh bugger off Blaise, I don’t wanna hear that from _you_.”

“Bloody hell, I think I’m gonna be sick...” Ron muttered queasily, watching Harry with no small amount of mortification on his face.

“Ah, _Ron_...” Hermione grimaced. “C’mon, I’ll help you to the loo.”

She stood up and braced an arm around Ron’s back as she led him back to where the restrooms were supposedly placed—indicated by a small sign.

Harry let out a quiet groan a buried his face in his hands as his two friends walk passed him. _Merlin’s beard...It’s already bad enough trying to get Ron, Hermione, and Draco to get along here—I don’t wanna even think about what’s gonna happen when the others arrive..._  

_Ding-a-ling~_

As if on cue, the light tinkle of a bell was heard—and Harry gulped as he raised his eyes nervously to see who it was. 

“That’s...”

“Pansy and Theo.” Draco nodded, standing up from the table. “Shall I escort them in to our table of fun?” 

Harry made a noise of protest, but the Slytherin was already on his way. 

“Don’t look so nervous, Potter,” Blaise consoled with a sympathetic grin. “Pans and Theo aren’t nearly as bad as you think they are.”

“Ah...no, I wasn’t trying to make it seem...” The Gryffindor flushed and shook his head nervously.

“Haha, relax.”

“Sorry, it’s just that you’re the only one of Draco’s friends that I’ve actually met yet...I’m still kinda nervous about this while thing...”

“—And here we are—satisfied now Parkinson?” Draco drawled as he promptly returned to the table—a tall black haired boy and slender raven haired girl in tow.

The girl stepped in front of Draco and peered at Harry curiously, raising a manicured eyebrow as she inspected for... _something—_  Harry knew not what. He tried not to flinch away from her piercing gaze. 

He did recognize her from Hogwarts though, he realized after seeing her face up close. Her hair had usually been pulled up into a ponytail, and she was always talking nonstop—she had a bit of a screechy voice, Harry remembered with a grimace.

The girl now however seemed much older and more mature—her hair cut short into a sleek bob, accented with a single stripe of purple tucked behind her ear. She finally opened her mouth after staring at Harry for a few moments. 

“Harry Potter—the boy wonder and savior of the Wizarding World...Well color me surprised...” 

Harry blinked in surprise. She didn’t seem to be acting condescendingly, he noted as she turned back and threw Draco an impressed smirk.

“I’d _love_ to hear the details on how _this_ happened...”

“I’m sure you would...” Draco replied with a mischievous look, turning to murmur something to Theo next to him. 

“Now now, we have plenty of time for that,” Blaise interjected with a sly grin, motioning for the newly arrived pair to take a seat. “Don’t be rude Pansy, you’re supposed to greet your superiors.”

Pansy threw an annoyed look down at the dark skinned male and pursed her lips as she sank into the seat next to him. “You’re not my superior Blaise.” 

“Well, I hate to break it you Pans, but I actually am. See, doctor outranks nurse, thus I’m a higher rank than you—thus making me your superior.”

“Well if we’re going by how you act, then that’s not actually true Blaise,” Theo finally commented with a quirk of his brow, sliding into the seat next to Pansy.

“Hmph, you guys just don’t respect me~” Blaise pouted, turning to Draco for support as the blonde too, returned to his seat between him and Harry. 

“Oh don’t you look at me like that, you’re not dragging me into this,” Draco refuted resolutely, ignoring Blaise’s set of amber puppy dog eyes directed at him. 

Harry watched the exchange between the four Slytherins with an expression just short of astonishment. _So they can act like that with each other too, huh..._  

“So, I suppose proper introductions are in order then...” Draco raised his voice to get his fellow Slytherins to be quiet—just as Hermione and Ron returned to the table, the latter thankfully not looking on the verge of sickness anymore. 

“Oh just bloody great—more Slytherins...” Ron mumbled under his breath, taking his seat with no great amount of enthusiasm. 

“Ron, stop,” Hermione scolded as she took her seat next to him. 

“As I was saying—” Draco continued, glancing between his friends on his right and his lover’s friend’s on his left. “I suppose we should make proper introductions. The whole reason why we decided to hold this luncheon with all of you lot was so we could all get to know each other better. We’re going to be seeing each other much more frequently in the future, so we decided it would be best to try and get things out and in the open sooner rather than later...” 

Harry nodded in agreement and glanced around the table. “So, Uh...how exactly should we go about doing this...?” 

Pansy rolled her eyes. “You Gryffindorks...We don’t need to formulate a battle plan to decide how we should introduce ourselves...”

“Oi, who do you think you are—” Ron started indignantly, but shut up when given a pointed look by Harry.

“How about you just introduce yourself...tell us how long you’ve know either Harry or myself for...what your current occupation is..?” Draco offered with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“I can go first then, if you like,” Theo offered with a polite raise of his hand, earning a snicker from Blaise.

“By all means, due enlighten everyone here Theo,” Blaise responded in a mock-serious voice, his amber eyes dancing in amusement. Draco jabbed him in the ribs to get him to stop, then nodded to Theo for him to start.

“Well, I’m Theodore Nott—please just call me Theo though. Friend of Draco’s since we were kids...I’m now a Healer at St. Mungo’s that specializes in the use of potions for anesthetic as well as for the purpose of healing ailments.”

“...You do what...?” Ron scrunched his face up in confusion. 

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Pansy beat her to it. “He’s responsible for making potions that make people fall asleep— so they can be operated on, as well as to help make and create new potions that can be used to cure people when they get sick or hurt.” The girl supplied with a minor eye roll.

“Wow, that actually sounds...fascinating.” Hermione marveled with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

“It’s pretty interesting most days,” Theo agreed with a nod. “One of our projects that we’ve recently been working on is a new version of Skel-a-grow. One that will be able to restore bones in as little as an hour.”

Harry grimaced at the mere mention of the vile bone replenishing potion that he had been forced to take in second year. Just the name brought back horrible flashbacks of that most unfortunate accident involving a bewitched bludger and Gildroy Lockhart.

He shuddered and tried to wipe the memory from his brain. “Ah, so you work with Zabini then?” 

“Indirectly, yes,” Theo confirmed with a nod. “I work behind the scenes most times, but I do come in to operating room to assist with sedations and the like...as well as administering potions to some younger children in Blaise’s ward...”

“Yep, Theo’s normally pretty quiet—but the younger kids take an especial liking to him for some reason!” Blaise commented somewhat enviously. 

“That’s probably just because you’re so loud, Blaise,” Pansy interjected with smirk. 

“Well at least the kids like me~” The male shot back childishly.

Pansy pursed her lips with a slight pout, and Theo sent an unimpressed look over to Blaise—the first actual facial movement that Harry had seen from the male. 

“Do you...work with children as well...?” Hermione asked timidly, almost afraid of getting snapped at by the other girl. 

“Yeah, I do...I’m Blaise’s nursing assistant in the Pediatric department,” The raven hair girl replied sulkily. “Well, I guess I may as well keep introducing myself next then...I’m Pansy Parkinson—only female friend of Draco Malfoy for 10-15 years...? Went to Hogwarts in Slytherin with these three...I already told you I’m a healer at St. Mungo’s...” She trailed off with a slight shrug.

Draco nodded and turned slightly to Harry. “So, who’s next?” 

“Well...” Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione before Blaise spluttered in protest.

“But what about _me_?”

“You already introduced yourself, Blaise,” The blonde replied with a roll of his eyes, glancing over at Hermione. “Granger, er...Mrs. Weasley? No...Bloody Hell, this is gonna get too confusing...”

“Ah...Granger is fine...” Hermione muttered back embarrassedly. 

“The hell it is! You’re a married woman! People need to make note of who you belong to!” Ron interjected angrily.

Hermione turned and sent a scowl to the redhead. “I’m not your property, Ronald. I’m free to choose how I would like to be addressed...” 

Apparently the glare that he received worked—Ron immediately grew quiet and slumped back into his seat with pink-tinged ears.

Hermione cleared her throat slightly. “Ah, I suppose I shall go next then...I’m Hermione Granger—now Weasley. Ronald and I got engaged shortly after the war, and we celebrated our wedding just a little over 2 years ago...I now work at the Ministry of Magic in the department of Intermagical Wizarding Law, as does Ronald...and I guess I’ve known Harry since we met at the very beginning of our first-year at Hogwarts...”

Harry shared a small smile with her at recalling their first encounter—while certainly not the best, it had definitely been impressionable.

“So you two really did get married?!” Pansy asked in shock, her mouth dropping open in aghast.

Hermione winced slightly and slowly nodded her head.

“Alright, pay up Nott!” She crooned gleefully, suddenly stretching her hand out to the quiet male beside her. 

Theo scowled slightly, reaching into the pocket of his pants and fishing around before retrieving and pulling into view several golden disks—Galleons, Harry recognized after they came fully into view—and dropped them into the her hand. “I thought you had forgotten about that...”

“Of course not! I never forget a bet I make with anybody!” Pansy grinned victoriously, opening up her clutch purse and dropping the Galleons in.

“Oh you don’t, Eh?” Blaise cut in with a drawl, smirking deviously at the girl. “Then you shouldn’t forget that you now owe _me_ 5 Galleons on the bet that _we_ made together, Parkinson~”

“Ah, damn...” She muttered with a scowl, reopening her purse and relocating several of the gold disks into Blaise’s outstretched hand—which he transferred to his pocket with a triumphant grin.

“Did I...miss something...?” Harry asked in confusion, glancing over at Draco for help.

“Ah, those three make bets with each other all the time—sometimes I join in...I have no clue what they were just betting on now though...” Draco replied with a quirked eyebrow in Blaise’s direction.

Blaise returned the look with a snicker. “Ah, well you see...Theo and Pans made a bet about Granger and Wesley getting hitched. There was a rumor in Witch Weekly that those two had gotten engaged and held a secret wedding a while back, but I think there was still speculation about whether or not it was actually true,” He rambled with a shrug. “Pansy said that they did get married, and Theo said that they didn’t. They made the bet a while ago, that’s why Theo thought that Pansy had already forgotten.”

Pansy grinned and elbowed Theo teasingly. “I told you they got hitched!”

Theo rolled his eyes at her childish display and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “I figured that if two of the biggest war heroes of the Wizarding World were getting married, every paper from here to Hogwarts would be covering the story. Since there wasn’t any talk of it besides that one article, I figured it probably wasn’t true...”

Blaise chuckled and nodded in agreement. “I actually agreed with Theo on that one, but I didn’t bet any money on it.” 

Hermione flushed in embarrassment at the conversation, but Ron seemed to care less.

“Then what was with the money from Pansy from just now?” Draco asked suspiciously.

“Oh—you mean this little sum~?” Blaise grinned wickedly and jiggled the Galleons in his pocket. “I told Pansy that our innocent little Draco had gotten himself a lover, and it turned out to be none other than dear old Saint Potter himself! Well, of course she didn’t believe me, and I bet money on it...So, to the victor go the spoils~!” 

This time it was Harry’s turn to flush slightly at the nonchalant way that Blaise explained the situation, though Draco seemed used to his friend’s antics.

“Come to think of it, you two can never seem to beat me at a bet—can you~?” The dark skinned wizard crooned gleefully, earning scowls from both Theo and Pansy.

“That’s...not true...” She refuted with a scowl.

“I won the wager on whether Draco was gay or not,” He reminded her with a devious smirk. “Didn’t you lose about 50 Galleons on that bet...?”

Pansy sent him another loathing glare while Draco’s eyes widened and his pale cheeks dusted over ever so slightly with pink. Apparently that bet was news to him.

“Wha—What kind of stupid shit have you guys been betting on?!” He demanded immediately—but his three friends seemed to pay him no heed as they continued.

“Well, we still have an active bet between the three of us that has yet to decide a winner...” Theo interjected solemnly, and Blaise and Pansy immediately snapped to attention with a gasp. 

“Oh...”

“That’s _right_...”

“The winner will be the recipient of 100 galleons...?” Theo questioned cooly, and Blaise nodded numbly in response.

Pansy glanced over at Draco with a piercing gaze, which he returned with a quirked brow. “And what, pray tell, does this bet have to do with me _this time?_ ” 

“It’s quite simple actually,” Blaise started with a nod. 

“All you have to tell us...” Pansy continued slowly.

“Is how you and Potter started dating...” Theo finished with a small quirk of his lips.

Draco screwed his face up in disgust. “Do you three have nothing better to do than to make bets on my love life?!”

“Eh,” Pansy shrugged. “Helps liven things up.”

“What a minute, so let me get this straight...” Ron’s booming voice suddenly cut through, and all eyes turned to him.

“You three made a wager on how Harry and Malfoy...got...you know... _with_..each other..?” 

Pansy snickered and rolled her eyes slightly. “Well, kind of. It’s not exactly that simple...” 

“But telling them all would ruin the fun~” Blaise grinned evilly, sending a shiver down Harry’s spine.

“Alright, then let’s do this,” Theo offered with a smirk of his own. “Have Potter and Malfoy tell us the story of how they started dating...then we’ll reveal the bet we made, and the winner of said bet...”

Hermione actually quirked her head interestedly. “I’ll admit, even we haven’t heard this story yet Harry.” 

Harry gaped in disbelief as he struggled to keep his face from flushing a deeper color red. “How can you all discuss things like this so calmly?! This is our private life we’re talking about!”

Blaise waved a hand dismissively. “This is nothing.”

“So—let’s hear it.” Pansy turned to Draco with a smirk.

“The story of how you two started dating...”


	4. Chapter 4

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“The story...”

“Of how we started dating...”

Harry and Draco exchanged weary glances at the sudden demand.

“Ah c’mon, what’s it gonna hurt? Just spill!” Pansy grinned evilly.

Blaise’s eyes glittered mischievously. “You both seem far too reluctant to share to all of your dear friends this story...Did something seriously so embarrassing happen that you’re this unwilling to tell us~?”

“That’s not... _exactly_ it..,” Harry grumbled evasively.

“Then what _exactly_ is it, mate?” Ron questioned confusedly, staring his friend down with a suspicious expression. “Not that I particularly care about the entire story of how you and Malfoy...hooked up—but! This is the first time I’ve seen you try to be so secretive about something!”

Harry quirked a brow and Ron quickly amended his statement.

“Ok, it’s not the _first_ time. But it’s the first time you’ve tried to hide it from even me and Mione!”

“Well, that’s..,” Harry trailed off uncomfortably and glanced at his lover for help.

Draco huffed and shook his head. “There are some parts of our story that still to this day we don’t agree on.”

“What exactly does that mean?” Pansy questioned with a frown.

Blaise couldn’t help the incredulous chuckle that escaped as he stared down the pair. “Yes, do enlighten us. What the bloody hell does that even mean?!”

Harry scowled ever so slightly and took a sip from the coffee cup in front of him. “There are... _things_ that happened over the course of the time we started working together at the Ministry, up until when we first started dating...”

He paused and Draco continued where he left off with a roll of his eyes. “Since we were the only two present when those... _things_ happened, each of us has our own interpretation of what actually happened...but...”

“Since we never had an eyewitness, we’ve always argued about whose perception of what actually happened was the right one...,” Harry finally finished.

Hermione frowned and cocked her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t understand. How exactly are these _things_ related to how you two started dating?”

Draco closed his eyes with a slight groan. “We may as well just tell them the whole story...”

Harry cringed and sent his lover a horrified look.

“The... _whole_ story...?”

Pansy rubbed her hands together eagerly. “Alright, now I’m getting excited! C’mon, spare none of the juicy details!”

Harry groaned in dismay. “But whose story are we gonna go with?”

“Well obviously mine. I told you—my story is definitely closest to the truth,” Draco stated firmly.

“Hold on now, how do _you_ know? For all you know—”

“How about this?” Theo finally cut in. “You each tell us the story from your own point of view and impression of how things happened. Then maybe we’ll all be able to read between the lines a bit and figure out something closer to the truth of what _really_ happened.”

Blaise snickered and clapped Theo on the back. “I swear, you shoulda been placed in Ravenclaw you goodie goodie.”

Theo scowled and swatted Blaise’s hand before continuing. “Uh, Potter. Why don’t we start with you...”

Harry paled slightly, glancing around at the eagerly awaiting faces nervously. “...You know on second thought, Draco can go first...”

Draco rolled his eyes. “C’mon. The sooner you start, the sooner you can get it over with.”

“Erk...Oh fine...” Harry closed his eyes and steeled himself before starting. “So I guess the story starts a few months after I had started working at the Ministry. I became an Auror shortly after the war was over, and things were going well...Then one day after a case I was on, I got a call from Kingsley and was told to report to his office...”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Phew—finally done! Y’alright there, Potter?”

Harry glanced up after having his name called and quickly stood, bowing his head slightly toward the older wizard.

“Ah, yes sir!”

The man laughed and clapped him on the back tiredly. “I have to say, you’re gettin’ pretty good there boy! I reckon you’re about ready to take on your own apprentice soon!”

“Ah, please sir. I’m nowhere near ready,” Harry refuted humbly, his face flushing in color at the high praise from his mentor.

“Haha, humble as ever, eh Potter?” The older wizard grinned and gave a final, brief look around before gesturing Harry to follow.

“I s’pose it’s ‘bout time we head on back to the Ministry—Minister Kingsley’s gonna wanna full report on this by the end of the day, so we best skedaddle!”

“Of course, sir...”

Harry smiled to himself and followed after the older man.

It was days like this that made him all the more grateful that he had defeated Voldemort and survived through the war. The war had come and gone like the passing of the wind—some days it felt as though it were just yesterday, yet others still felt as though it had all just been a bad dream.

Though many still remembered often all that they had lost because of it, most all had moved on—and life had started to become happy again. Once most of the losses and damages had been taken care of, and the greater part of the London Wizarding community had recovered, there arose questions of needing a new leader for the fallen Wizarding community. Thankfully it was near unanimous decision that Kingsley Shacklebolt be voted into office as the new Minister of Magic.

As for Harry himself, things were going well. After his 20th birthday, he had soon found himself being trained, under Kingsley’s suggestion, to become an Auror. Kingsley had assigned a mentor to him, and ever since, Harry had been training hard underneath the supervision of Auror Florence Knightly—an older and slightly eccentric wizard, though Harry thought him quite charming (and found a great deal of likeness to Mr. Weasley in him). With Voldemort gone, Harry felt like he was finally able to live life like an normal person might—and he strived everyday to do just that.

Yes, things had really started to look up for him. That was, until that fated day.

“Ah, here we are at the apparating point Potter! Grab hold, I’ll take us back to the Ministry!” Florence exclaimed brightly and held out his arm, waiting for Harry to grab on.

Harry, instead of reminding him for the hundredth time that he was perfectly capable of apparating himself back to the Ministry, simply indulged the older man’s request and grabbed hold of his arm. The familiar, but still unsettling feeling of being stretched like a piece of taffy traveling a hundred miles an hour came and quickly passed, and his feet made contact with the ground once again.

Florence gave a quick glance around. He had successfully apparated them directly outside the entrance to the Ministry of Magic—as close as you could get with the protective wards that were up. “Not bad, not bad! Alright then! Off to the Ministers office!”

Harry shook his head and tried his best to keep with the capricious older man as Florence quickly strode through the bustling main floor of the Ministry, quickly navigating into the pristine gold elevators in the back.

“To the Minister’s office!” He exclaimed brightly again, hopping into an unoccupied car and punching one of the buttons on the wall of the elevator, before reaching up to grab hold of one of the handle straps as the elevator took off with a lurch. Harry followed suit, a bit too late—reaching desperately for one of the straps as he stumbled forward with the momentum of the car.

Seconds later the pair found themselves in a carpeted hallway, leading directly to a pair of dark, wooden doors.

“After you, Potter.”

“Ah, right...”

Harry walked forward slowly and reached up, knocking firmly on the door.

“Enter.” Came the deep, booming voice from the other side—and suddenly the doors opened by themselves, revealing the figure of Kingsley sitting behind his desk.

Harry walked into the room until he was standing directly in front of Kingsley’s desk, Florence striding up beside him. It was hardly Harry’s first time to visit Kingsley’s office, but it still made him feel strangely nervous each time he did so.

“So, how did it go?” Kingsley asked seriously, wasting no time with preamble.

The case that Kingsley had entrusted to the two of them had been one they’d been dealing with for nearly a month. They only finally wrapped the case up that morning after receiving a lead that proved to be exactly what they needed to tie up the last loose ends.

“Quite smashingly, if I do say so myself! Potter was excellent, as always Minister!” Florence beamed brightly, clapping Harry on the back proudly.

“Thanks to the tip off we received, we were finally able to track down the head of the organization that was cursing all of those muggle objects and reselling them on the black market. After he was captured, we were able to collect the objects and dispel any traces of dark magic from them!”

“Good, good,” Kingsley mumbled, nodding his head in satisfaction. “And the objects are...?”

“Ah, we sent them down to the Department of Muggle Artifacts to be checked over and restored to their former appearances. After that they should be able to be sent back to the Muggles that they were stolen from, right Potter?” Florence rattled off concisely, glancing at Harry for a nod of agreement.

“Uh, yeah. That’s correct, sir.”

Kingsley nodded in satisfaction, glancing over a small stack of parchment a top his desk with a hum—stopping here and there to jot down notes with the quill in his hand.

“Alright then—excellent job you two. I’ll expect an official report from the both of you, then we’ll file this down to the people in Intermagical Law to be taken care of once and for all,” He announced with a final nod, placing the parchment inside of a folder and sliding it into a drawer in his desk.

“Knightly, you may be dismissed.” Kingsley turned to Harry. “Potter, you stay here. I’d like to have a word.”

Harry’s heart immediately dropped and his palms felt sweaty. This was the first time Kingsley had ever only dismissed Florence and asked him to stay.

_Had he done something wrong? Had Mr. Knightly reported something to Kingsley that he was unhappy about?_ A million thoughts raced through Harry’s head as Florence nodded, patting him reassuringly on the back as he exited the office and the doors swung closed behind him with a solid _‘thunk’_.

Trapped with nowhere to escape, Harry stood frozen to the spot—waiting until Kingsley had glanced up at him and motioned for him to take a seat on a chair that he conjured in front of the desk.

“Sit, Sit. There’s no need to be so nervous, Potter,” Kingsley’s deep, calming voice called out to the boy, and he sunk gingerly into the seat—still not daring to speak a word.

“How have things been going?”

“... _Things_...?” Harry asked tentatively.

Kingsley waved a hand around. “Your job, working with Knightly, learning all the tricks of the trade...How are you liking it so far?”

Harry swallowed nervously and twiddled his thumbs. “I...think that everything has been going pretty well...Mr. Knightly is very knowledgeable and has been very patient and kind while teaching me...” He paused and Kingsley nodded, gesturing for him to continue. “A lot of the cases have been hard, but...they’ve been very interesting and fun to work on...I’ve throughly enjoyed all that I’ve done so far, and hope that I can continue to work alongside Mr. Knightly to help make the Wizarding World a better place...”

Harry stopped and bit his lip. _Oh—had that been too narcissistic a thing to say?_ He glanced up at Kingsley hesitantly, who looked deep in thought.

“I’m afraid...that that will no longer be possible.”

Harry paled. _I knew it. Something happened. I’m gonna get the boot._ He tried to swallow the lump in his throat and maintain his dignity as Kingsley opened his mouth to deliver the words Harry knew would end his short lived career as an Auror.

“It will no longer be possible, because Auror Knightly has given you a recommendation to be accepted into the department as a full fledged Auror—meaning that you will no longer require the assistance of a mentor,” Kingsley explained slowly, his mouth breaking out into a grin at the end. “Surprised?”

Harry gasped and held a hand to his chest. “S-surprised?! Of course I am! Kingsley, I thought you were firing me!” He stood up and exclaimed a bit too loudly.

Kingsley chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “Ah, Potter—there’s no need to be so uptight. If there was something wrong with the way you’ve been performing, of course either Knightly or I would’ve said something.” He grinned as Harry sank meekly back into his seat.

“Knightly only ever sings praises when he talks about you, so why would you have any reason to think that you weren’t doing well?”

Harry scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well, I dunno...I just thought it might have something to do with the whole ‘Savior of the Wizarding World’ thing, y’know? People still treat me differently because of it...”

The older male nodded and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I understand, but trust me—you’re doing extremely well for how short of a time you’ve been on the job for...Most rookie Aurors are sent to St. Mungo’s on their first day...”

“...Ah, I see...” Harry paled slightly and nodded his head meekly. There _had_ been some close calls on a few of the cases that he had been on—but neither he nor Florence had ever sustained injury needing of hospitalization while out on the job. “I suppose I should consider myself extremely fortunate then...”

Kingsley chuckled. “The job of an Auror is often unpredictable—so even the best can quickly find themselves in an unfavorable position. This is one of the reasons why we always prefer Aurors to work in pairs...” He paused, as if mulling something over in his head, and Harry frowned slightly.

“But since I’m not working with Mr. Knightly anymore...does that mean that I’m going to be assigned another Auror to work alongside?”

“Not...exactly,” The Minister answered hesitantly—standing up from behind his desk and turning to pace around the room slowly, clasping his hands behind his back and frowning slightly as he collected his thoughts.

Harry remained silent, unsure of what to make with that statement. Kingsley finally let out a long breath before striding back over and sinking back down behind his desk. He then pulled out a drawer and rifled through it before finding a file and setting it carefully on top of the desk.

“The truth is...,” The older man started quietly, staring at the folder intently. “We at the Ministry have actually been working on something called _‘The Equal Blood Initiative’_. After the war was over, there were months and months of time where people were trying to clean up the damages left behind in the aftermath of the war. Even after the physical world was fixed though, many were still broken in spirit and heart.” He paused, frowning deeply.

“Because of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, many in the Wizarding World had to mourn the loss of their friends and loved ones- and that was something that no amount of magic could ever fix. When the aftermath was dealt with, and people started to finally move on, we soon realized that we were facing a new problem. Wizards everywhere had started being bigoted towards Purebloods. Not allowing them to find jobs, visit certain shops, or even eat in many restaurants.”

Harry’s eyes widened before his brows drew down in a frown. “That’s...horrible...how come there hasn’t been anything down about it?”

“Well, we’ve been seriously trying to put a stop to all blood bigoting—and that’s where our _Equal Blood Initiative_ comes in,” Kingsley explained with a nod, opening the folder and pulling out a sheet of parchment for Harry to look over. “Basically, the program is to help rehabilitate and find jobs for those who are being oppressed due to their blood status. Muggleborn, Pureblood, anything. Any person who is being discriminated against will be able to file a form and receive help from our departments.”

Harry nodded and passed the sheet of parchment back, frowning slightly. “That sounds brilliant...But no offense sir—what exactly does this have to do with _me_...?”

“Well, as to your question about a new Auror partner...,” Kingsley stated the topic gingerly, and suddenly started to avoid Harry’s eyes.

“About...my new Auror partner...?”

Kingsley nodded and pulled another sheet from the envelope, staring at it for a long moment before sighing heavily and finally passing it to Harry. “We received a grievance from one Draco Malfoy about not being able to obtain work, due to his family being a known supporter of Voldemort...”

He trailed off, and Harry’s eyes widened slightly as the puzzle pieces started to click together.

“N-no way, sir...You couldn’t possibly mean...”

“Effective immediately, I’m assigning Draco Malfoy as your new partner, Potter,” Kingsley stated firmly, and suddenly Harry’s vision went blurry.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“...-otter..”

“Potter.”

“... _Mm?_ ”

“C’mon...easy now.”

Harry blinked open heavy eyelids and glanced around groggily, trying to make out his surroundings.

“Hmm? Kingsley?” He questioned confusedly, finally sitting as he saw the dark skinned male hovering over him. “Am I...? Laying on the floor...In your office?!”

Kingsley cracked a small grin as Harry suddenly bolted up and brushed his clothes furiously, glancing around wildly.

“Easy now, just take a seat,” Kingsley gestured Harry back to his chair as he went around the desk and sat back in his own chair. “You fainted while we were discussing your new assignment.”

“My new...? Oh...” Harry closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. “I thought that was just a bad dream...”

“I’m afraid not, Potter. Your new Auror partner _is_ Draco Malfoy.”

Harry barely suppressed a groan. “Sir, I don’t understand—how in the world is Malfoy qualified to be my partner? Or an Auror for that matter?! He’s obviously never been trained in, he’s never even worked here for the Ministry, and, further more, how am I supposed to work with someone that’s hated me ever since we met?!”

“Potter, I can understand your feelings—but I’ve already put careful thought and consideration into the decision. It’s final,” Kingsley stated gently but firmly, offering the emerald-eyes boy no more than a slightly pitying look. “It’s been years since you’ve seen Draco Malfoy, so I’d like for you to try and not think of him as he was back when you knew him in school—a lot’s changed since then...”

“But sir...!” Harry protested indignantly. “Past feelings aside—how can you just pair him up as my partner?! Does Malfoy even know anything about being an Auror?!”

Kingsley nodded slowly. “Yes. Aside from receiving excellent marks on all of his N.E.W.T.’s, Malfoy has been under the close watch and mentorship of one of our Aurors here from the time he arrived...He asked specifically for a job as an Auror, and began his training almost immediately...”

Harry sputtered in disbelief. “B-but how?! When did he come here? Who was he under supervision of? How come I’ve never seen him here? He’s not even registered under the list of Aurors!”

“Mr. Malfoy came in to see me about 2 months ago, filing the claim I told you about earlier, and asking to be considered for a job as an Auror...After taking a look at his test scores and doing a preliminary check, I felt there was no reason why he couldn’t start to be trained in. Like you, he exhibited a great deal of knowledge and instinct on the job, and quickly progressed through the training—as you did.” Kingsley paused, resting his chin in his clasped hands.

“I decided to keep his name out of the department system for various reasons. Mostly because I didn’t want anyone making a fuss before he even started officially working here.”

Harry shied away from the pointed look directed his way.

“But what about the Auror he worked under?! Surely nobody would just offer to take him!”

“I had Florence Knightly conduct his training,” Kingsley replied evenly, and Harry’s jaw about came unhinged. “Knightly was more than happy to accept another protege, and had no problems with it being Mr. Malfoy...I also figured it would be a good chance for Knightly to be able to get a good grasp on the both of you to compare and see if you’d make compatible partners...He came to me the other day with the proposition of making you two both full-fledged Aurors, as well as to immediately instate you as partners.”

Harry’s head spun at the rush of information, and he held a hand to his temple as he tried to process it all. “So basically...You and Mr. Knightly had us trained, and then conspired about making us partners... _because you thought we’d get along so well?_ ”

The last part came out a bit more sarcastic than Harry had meant for it to, but it was too late to start taking back words now.

“Harry...” The Minister started tiredly, rubbing his own temples. “I know you won’t understand now—but all that I’ve done, I’ve done so with a full and complete understanding of the consequences that it may have, as well as the benefits. My decision to make you and Malfoy Auror partners was not one that was made overnight—it was done only after much time of very careful thought and consideration, Alright?”

Harry finally stopped his tirade of questions and comebacks, and merely sat still—trying to take it all in. “So...when do we have to start working together...?” The question came out as a defeated mumble, and Kingsley merely chuckled lightly at the pouty attitude of the younger.

“You’ll officially become partners tomorrow—there’s a special meeting that we need to have to finish all of the formalities, but you won’t start on field assignments together until the end of the week. That way Knightly and I will be able to to monitor and make sure you two don’t try to kill each other before your first assignment together.”

Harry nodded numbly and rose from his seat, sighing in defeat. “Just...one last question.”

“Yes?”

“Does Malfoy know? About us...being partners...?”

“Yes, he does.”

“And? What does he think?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Harry turned around stiffly as the sound of heavy oak doors being opened filled the office. The sound stopped, and a tall, blonde figure strolled into the room. Apparently he wasn’t expecting anybody but the Minister, for a sleek blonde brow rose in surprise upon seeing Harry standing next to the desk.

“Well, well, well—what do we have here...?” Draco drawled quietly, eyeing Harry up and down.

“Malfoy,” Harry grit out.

“Evening, Potter.”

Though he still looked the same for the most part, Draco’s entire demeanor seemed far more mature than it had just a few years ago when Harry had seen him at Hogwarts. _He still has that same arrogant face and that damned smirk though_. Harry scowled slightly and averted his eyes to keep from meeting the blonde’s gaze.

“I had come to bring you the paperwork you asked for Minister, but I didn’t realize you were busy...” Draco’s voice, though it had carried a slight teasing tone moments ago, now sounded oddly polite and subdued. Harry frowned. It wasn’t the tone of voice that he was used to hearing from the blonde.

“Ah, not to worry Malfoy—I called you up here on purpose. I figured that the three of us should have a little meeting before we proceed with the initiation ceremony tomorrow,” Kingsley stated with a slight grimace, gesturing for the two to follow him over to a small sitting area further in the office.

He reclined into a large armchair and motioned for the two to sit across from him in the large sofa there. Harry sank down silently into the far right cushion, huffing slightly and shooting Draco a suspicious look as he did so. Draco returned the look with a slight roll of his eyes, choosing to perch against the left arm of the couch instead.

“So...what exactly do we need to discuss...?” Harry asked dryly, clearly still not on board with the whole idea of getting along with Draco.

“ _Harry,_ ” Kingsley stressed tiredly, shooting the boy a pleading look. Harry frowned and Draco quirked his lips.

 

 

“Minister,” Draco started cooly, glancing at Harry quickly before returning his gaze to the older man in front of him. “Can you at least tell us _why_ you decided to pair us together as partners?”

“...Well, that’s...something that will be discussed at a later time.”

“But out of all of the Aurors in the department—why would you pair up two rookies?” Harry asked with a deep frown. “Our past history aside- just because we’re to be graduated as full-fledged Aurors and won’t need a mentor anymore, shouldn’t we still at least have a senior Auror with us?! At least for the first month or something?!”

Draco contemplated Harry’s words with a cock of his head. “I was wondering along similar lines...I don’t want to say that it seems reckless and irresponsible to send out two rookie Aurors together to work on cases when there are plenty of senior Auror pairs that do the same type of cases, but...”

The blonde shrugged, offering the Minister a slightly arrogant _‘do want you want though’_ sort of look.

“Look. No matter what either the two of you think about this new arrangement, I’m afraid to say that there’s nothing that I can do for you at the moment,” Kingsley refuted firmly, staring each of the boys down with an even glance. “Now I’m going to help you guys set some ground rules first, so this’ll help for the most part with keeping the two of you safe— others as well as yourselves.”

“... _Ground rules?_ ” Draco questioned with a wrinkle of his nose.

“New to the term ‘ _rules’_ , Malfoy?” Harry quipped snarkily, earning yet another sigh from Kingsley.

“Whenever two Aurors are decided as partners, the first thing that they need to do is to form a contract with each other,” Kingsley explained slowly, conjuring a piece of parchment and quill from thin air. “This contract are the basic ‘ground rules’ for the two Aurors—meaning that neither are allowed to break them, lest they violate their partnership with the other.”

“But since we don’t want to be partners _anyways_...”

“The contract is bound by an Unbreakable Vow,” Kingsley interjected sternly. “Once the terms of the contract are set by both Aurors, they will take an Unbreakable Vow with the other to swear to protect the other.”

Harry’s eyes widened in slight horror as he listened to what Kingsley was saying. “But why do we have to make an Unbreakable Vow?! That means that we’ll die if we don’t uphold the contract!”

Kingsley nodded solemnly. “When Aurors decide to become partners, their first and foremost priority is the protection of themselves, and their partner. The contract is just to help enforce the seriousness of that.”

“So...what exactly are we supposed to put in our contract..?” Draco asked with a quirk of his brow, looking somewhat disturbed.

“You’re allowed to put whatever you want,” Kingsley replied with a shrug. “Within reason of course.”

Harry cast a nervous glance at Draco, but the blonde simply stared at the floor—his gaze transfixed like he was deep in thought.

“The first and last clause of every Auror contract is as I said before; vowing to protect your own life, as well as your partner’s life at any cost. Your lives are the most precious thing that you have—cherish them.”

The quill levitating in front of him scratched noisily against the floating piece of parchment, leaving a trail of inked words as it went.

**_ The Contract of one Harry James Potter and Draco Lucius Malfoy as Partners in The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Division of Aurors. _ **

_By signing their names on this contract, and making an Unbreakable Vow to seal it, both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy do solemnly swear to uphold to the list of terms as seen below;_

_**1). My own life and the life of my partner are above all, the most important. I solemnly swear to do everything in my power to keep both myself and my partner safe—even if it means not being able to complete a case to do so.** _

Kingsley glanced over the parchment in satisfaction, nodding as he read through the words.

“Alright, who wants to make a suggestion?”

“Well...what sort of things usually get put on these contracts?” Harry asked interestedly.

“It depends on the people, really.,” Kingsley responded easily, chuckling slightly. “I’ll admit, there have been some rather atrocious ones in the past—such as; _‘Both partners are required to change their socks every day—no exceptions.’_  or _‘Neither partner is allowed to eat a meal without the other’_..I think Florence came up with that one...Of course I think he took it off the contract before they actually swore on it, haha!”

Harry and Draco exchanged a brief glance of shocked horror at the ridiculous notions.

“Alright, then I’ll go first,” Harry stated firmly, keen to get his own say on a rule before Draco decided on something ridiculous. “How about; ‘ _Malfoy isn’t allowed to wear that god-awful cologne of his whenever we’re out on a case.’_ ?”

“Hey, now Harry—”

“What? You’ve got a problem with _my_ cologne, you tosser? Fine, next rule. _‘Potter can’t wear those ridiculously lame glasses of his whenever he’s around me.’_.”

“H-hold on Draco...”

“‘ _Malfoy can’t get within a 3 meter radius of me.’_ ”

“Harry, _honestly_...”

“Fine. ‘Potter can’t get within a _5_ meter radius of me.’”

“Alright! That’s enough you two!” Kingsley stood suddenly, his deep voice booming as he silenced the two. “You’re both acting like children, now stop it!”

Thankfully, both Harry and Draco at least had the grace to look slightly shamed at the petty squabbling they had been doing. Kingsley took a deep breath and sat back down, rubbing his temples gingerly.

“The point of the contract, is to help build your trust and relationship together—to keep you both _safe,_ ” He stressed tiredly. “The terms listed on the contract only hold if they apply to both members of the contract—you can’t just list any silly whim you want the other to obey.”

Kingsley sighed again and plucked the quill out of the air—turning his attention to the contract. “It seems like I’ll have to lay the foundation work down...”

Harry didn’t have time to ask what that meant before the older man began scratching away furiously at the parchment, only stopping after he had filled a good two-thirds of the page with writing. “Alright, here’s the basis for your contract...”

**_1). My own life and the life of my partner are above all, the most important. I solemnly swear to do everything in my power to keep both myself and my partner safe—even if it means not being able to complete a case to do so._ **

**_2). My partner is my best ally, and I can learn a lot from him. I solemnly swear to devote at least 1 (one) hour every day to practicing spells and other combat skills with my partner to help better myself._ **

**_3). To help my partner, I must know my partner. I solemnly swear to try and understand my partner better by spending at least 1 (one) hour every day talking to him to learn more about him._ **

**_4). To truly appreciate the value of my partner, I must know my partner’s worth. I solemnly swear to share a mutual living space with my partner to increase our time and interaction with each other, in the hopes of understanding my partner’s way of living._ **

**_5)._ **

**_6)._ **

“What do you guys think?” There was mischievous twinkle in Kingsley’s eyes as he turned the parchment around and read each word out loud.

“T-that’s, that’s—!” Harry paled.

“Wha—you can’t...you can’t be serious!” Draco protested meekly, staring at the script in horror.

“Now now, I’ve left you each a spot at the bottom for one request. As long as it pertains to both members, I’ll allow it.” Kingsley finalized, turning to Harry first.

“So? What’ll it be?”

Harry stood dumbstruck and opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “Even if you say that, how am I supposed to...?”

“Don’t be shy, just spit it out.”

“Fine,” Harry scowled , snatching the quill from Kingsley and jotting down his request on the open line.

**_5). Working together is easier than working alone. I solemnly swear to do my best to help my partner out while on the job—no matter what the circumstances._ **

“I see...That’s a good choice...,” Kingsley accepted with a nod, taking the quill from Harry’s hand and transferring it to Draco’s. “And your request, Draco..?”

The blonde thought hard, frowning for a moment before placing the quill to parchment.

**_6). No matter how bleak things may look, remember that you’re never alone. I solemnly swear that no matter how hard things get—I will never try to kill myself, or my partner._ **

Both Harry and Kingsley stared in slight shock at what Draco had written.

“Ah, Draco...that’s...”

“Insurance,” He replied flatly, not meeting either of their gazes.

Kingsley nodded slowly and levitated the parchment, turning it so that they could all read.

“Well, take a good look at it now. Tomorrow you two are going to sign this contract, and vow to keep all of the terms listed on it—lest you face the consequences for defying...”

**_ The Contract of one Harry James Potter and Draco Lucius Malfoy as Partners in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Division of Aurors. _ **

_By signing their names on this contract, and making an Unbreakable Vow to seal it, both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy do solemnly swear to uphold to the list of terms as seen below;_

**_1). My own life and the life of my partner are above all, the most important. I solemnly swear to do everything in my power to keep both myself and my partner safe—even if it means not being able to complete a case to do so._ **

**_2). My partner is my best ally, and I can learn a lot from him. I solemnly swear to devote at least 1 (one) hour every day to practicing spells and other combat skills with my partner to help better myself._ **

**_3). To help my partner, I must know my partner. I solemnly swear to try and understand my partner better by spending at least 1 (one) hour every day talking to him to learn more about him._ **

**_4). To truly appreciate the value of my partner, I must know my partner’s worth. I solemnly swear to share a mutual living space with my partner to increase our time and interaction with each other, in the hopes of understanding my partner’s way of living._ **

**_5). Working together is easier than working alone. I solemnly swear to do my best to help my partner out while on the job—no matter what the circumstances._ **

**_6). No matter how bleak things may look, remember that you’re never alone. I solemnly swear that no matter how hard things get—I will never try to kill myself, or my partner._ **

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“And that was pretty much it for the beginning of the story,” Harry concluded, flushing slightly at all of the eager eyes fixated on him.

“Wow~” Pansy breathed excitedly, her face giddy with what she had heard so far. “Hey, is that _really_ what happened, Draco?”

“ _Well_...,” Draco sniffed indignantly and took a sip of coffee. “My story of course starts differently than his, but I would still say that there are _some_ parts of his story that I don’t remember being _100 percent accurate_...”

“So _you_ say...,” Harry mutter petulantly in return, rolling his eyes slightly at his lover’s childish refute.

“I do have to say though, this story is turning out to be a whole lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be~” Blaise crooned gleefully.

Draco smirked.

“If you think _that’s_ good, just _wait_ till you hear what happens _next_...”


	5. Chapter 5

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Well don’t keep us in suspense, Potter!” Pansy crooned giddily, tapping her feet in excitement. “C’mon and tell us what happened next!”

Harry groaned slightly and turned to his lover with a pout. “You tell the next part.”

“Hm? No. You’re doing just fine,” Draco refuted easily, waving his hand dismissively.

“But you know the part that happens next—I was barely conscious for most of it!”

“Barely conscious? What ever were you doing, Potter?” Blaise questioned in amusement.

Harry flushed slightly with a scowl. “Hey, it wasn’t _my_ fault.”

“ _Oh_? Are you now trying to shove the blame over to _me_?” A blonde eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“Well, _no—_ not exactly. But I think we both agreed that that entire situation was _not_ my fault,” Harry pouted.

“Sounds like another thing that needs to be solved by hearing both sides of the story,” Theo chimed in cooly.

Harry sniffed indignantly and purposefully turned away from his lover, causing Draco to throw a hand in the air in annoyance. “Alright, _fine_. I’ll tell this part of the story.”

“Just bloody brilliant,” Ron muttered under his breath, earning a chastising look from Hermione.

“Now please, do continue,” Blaise prompted with an evil grin.

Draco sighed and reached forward to take a sip of his coffee before drumming his fingers on the table thoughtfully. “Well, let’s see then—what did happen next? I suppose that after we finished our meeting with Kingsley...we each went our separate ways for the night—then we met up again at the Ministry the next morning. The ceremony was to take place in one of the hearing rooms in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement—with only a few people to serve as witnesses...”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“As Minister of Magic, I now call this session into order,” Kinglsey’s deep voice boomed through the open room, followed by the rap of a gavel hitting the stand. “To all who are gathered here today, I have asked you to bear witness to the initiation ceremony for two of our newly entered Auror trainees. Directly following the initiation, we will continue on with the ritual for Auror partnership.”

The Minister glanced around the room, receiving nods of confirmation from those around him. “Now then—let us begin. As I call your name, please enter and stand before me.”

Kingsley glanced down at the piece of parchment in front of him for formality. It wasn’t like he really needed to remember the two names he was going to be calling—but he did so just to keep with the tradition.

“Harry Potter.”

Polite clapping ensued, with some of the more friendly Aurors whistling enthusiastically as Harry emerged from an adjoining room behind the podium where Kingsley stood—moving until he was in the center of the room and stood facing Kingsley.

“Alright. Draco Malfoy.”

This time a hush broke over the small group, and only Florence began clapping as the blonde strode out quickly—not making eye contact with anyone in the room. The shocked group slowly followed suit and began clapping until Draco stood in his destined spot beside Harry.

“Very good,” Kingsley nodded and pulled a new piece of parchment and laid it on top of the podium. “We will now begin the initiation of new Aurors into the Department. I would like to ask the mentor of each of these two to step forward. Auror Florence Knightly, if you please.”

Florence rose from his seat with a broad grin, waving at the applause that broke out as he made him way down to where Harry and Draco stood.

“Nervous boys?” He whispered brightly as he stopped between them. Neither answered, and that spoke loud enough to Florence. “Don’t worry, everything’ll be just splendid.”

“As it is stated by the law,” Kingsley continued. “Any person—wizard or witch, who wishes to be inducted into the Department of Aurors, must first undergo a series of training to be conducted by a senior mentor in the Department. Once that mentor has deemed the trainee to be competent in both mind and body while out on the job—he may recommend that trainee to be considered for complete initiation into the Department of Aurors, with a rank of full-fledged Auror.”

Kingsley turned to Florence. “Senior Auror Knightly was tasked with the mentoring of both Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy. So to Auror Knightly I ask; do you recommend these individuals brought before me be initiated into the Department of Aurors?”

“Yes I do Minister,” Florence declared resolutely.

“Do you swear that they were trained to Department standards, and taught with the knowledge of the goal that we here at the Ministry strive to achieve?”

“Yes I do Minister,” Florence responded once again, nodding his head firmly.

Draco glanced briefly at the eccentric older man, seeing his face slightly stern and serious for the first time. For some reason it made him feel even more nervous—as though now everything he did would be brought back to Florence due to his training. He shook his head and tried to pay attention as Kingsley’s voice boomed through the room again.

“With the recommendation of Auror Knightly, we will now proceed with the affirmation and oath by the candidates for initiation.”

_Affirmation? Oath?_ Draco frowned at the serious-sounding words and glanced across Florence to Harry. Apparently the boy-wonder was thinking similarly—his face was pale and his brows drawn towards his eyes.

“Harry James Potter and Draco Lucius Malfoy.”

Draco jerked and snapped to attention at having his full name called so loudly.

“Do you both swear that Auror Knightly has trained you to the best of his potential, to become fully functioning members of the Department of Aurors?”

Draco met Harry’s eyes briefly, as though unsure of the answer.

“Hehe, this is where you’re supposed to give a resounding ‘ _yes_ ’!” Florence whispered helpfully, though his voice sounded strangely nervous—as if he himself wasn’t even sure if he had done what was asked.

“Yes Minister,” Harry declared resolutely, and Kingsley nodded—turning to Draco.

“Yes Minister,” Draco followed suit, nodding affirmatively.

“Excellent. Now—you must both swear by the rules and ethos of the Department of Aurors, to uphold and protect the name with which you will soon be bestowed.” Kingsley shifted parchments and cleared his throat before reading.

“Do you both swear to protect any and all forms of life—whether wizard, muggle, magical being, or other—so long as you are both Aurors?”

“I swear,” Harry responded immediately. He glanced over as Draco faltered for a moment.

“...I swear.”

“Good. Do you swear to follow the rules and views of both the Department of Aurors, as well as the Ministry of Magic itself—so long as you are Aurors?”

This time, they answered together. “I swear.”

Kingsley nodded and continued. “With the verbal affirmation from the two candidates, I would now like to invite both Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy—as well as their mentor, Auror Florence Knightly, to come to the podium and sign the contracted Oath of the Aurors.”

Harry and Draco glanced over at Florence, who gestured for them to follow him up to the podium where Kingsley stood.

“All I need is for each of you to sign underneath your designated line,” Kingsley explained quietly, gesturing for Harry to step forwards. “Right here.”

A quill appeared, hovering over the paper. Harry took it and glanced down to where Kingsley pointed, taking a deep breath and signing his name.

“Good, good.” Kingsley nodded, retrieving the quill from Harry’s hand and then gesturing Draco forward.

“Right here, Draco.”

Draco looked down at the parchment and hesitated slightly before bending down and signing his name.

“Excellent, now Florence—if you would.”

Florence bounded forwards and signed the bottom of the parchment with a grin. He handed both quill and parchment back to Kingsley before guiding the boys back down to their place in front of the podium as Kingsley took one final look over the paper in his hands.

“It seems everything is in order now,” He cleared his throat and gazed over at the crowd of Aurors. “With the power invested in me, as Minister for Magic—and with the signed contracts of both Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy—it is my pleasure to now officially announce to you the newest members of the Department of Aurors! Auror Potter, and Auror Malfoy.”

Polite clapping and a few cheers erupted from the small band of Aurors.

“Excellent job ma’boys. It’s well earned and deserved,” Florence congratulated, turning between the two and clapping them each on the back.

“Thank you, sir,” Harry beamed with a grin, almost forgetting that in mere moments he was going to be paired as partners with Draco.

“Thanks,” Draco responded quietly, oddly pensive at the moment.

Kingsley smiled down at the two and offered his own round of applause before reaching underneath the podium and bringing forth a sealed role of parchment that the pair knew all too well from the night before.

“The partner contract...,” Harry mumbled, suddenly feeling queasy and nervous again.

“Don’t worry, this ceremony is a lot shorter— more of a formality, really,” Florence assured, sensing Harry’s shift in mood.

“We really have to make the Unbreakable Vow, don’t we...,” Draco murmured aloud, more to himself than anyone else.

A loud banging suddenly filled the room as Kingsley knocked his gavel against the podium, and a hush grew across the room once again. All eyes turned to the Minister as he held up the contract for all to see.

“This is the partner contract for Aurors Malfoy and Potter.” He turned and made sure that all saw the scroll raised in his hand before continuing. “I as Minister bore witness to the creation of this contract, and have signed my name along with the two Aurors to be partnered. I would now like to invite them forwards to bind and seal this contract by means of the Unbreakable Vow—ensuring that neither will go against the terms that they’ve signed into.”

Draco paled slightly and side-eyed Harry. The Gryffindor didn’t look any less nervous than Draco himself felt—but he wasn’t so sure if that was a consolation or not.

Suddenly he felt himself being pushed and beckoned forwards, and he realized that he was supposed to step closer to the podium. Kingsley slowly descended from the stand and stopped between the two boys smiling gently.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be done and over before you know it,” He assured quietly, removing his wand from the confines of his silk robes and raising it slightly. “Now face each other, please.”

Harry sighed and tried not to grimace as he turned and stood facing Draco’s gaunt profile. Though the blonde had seemed as snarky and confident yesterday as Harry had remembered him being in school, the boy he now saw in front of him looked oddly nervous and timid. Draco’s pale grey eyes flitted around quickly and his pale hands clenched together tightly, relaxing a second later only to clench back into a tight fist.

Draco grit his teeth together and tried to focus on what Kingsley was saying when he noticed the older man’s lips moving once again. He was finding it hard to concentrate and kept zoning out accidentally.

Apparently something was said that he missed, for he soon realized that Harry and Kingsley were both staring straight at him— waiting for him to do something.

“Uh, sorry...?” Draco mumbled out with a slightly frown.

“Your hand,” Kingsley replied, and Draco finally realized that Harry had his own hand outstretched—waiting for Draco to grasp on.

 

 

 

 

“Oh...” He slowly extended his left arm forward, hesitating before loosely grasping Harry’s forearm. _Weird_... Draco immediately quirked a brow. Though Harry didn’t look it, his forearms felt oddly firm and muscular. _When the bloody hell did he get fit? I remember him being scrawny throughout school..._

He jerked slightly and snapped out of his train of thought as he felt equally firm fingers suddenly contact his own forearm.

Harry glanced up and met his gaze in surprise. Apparently the strange reaction caught him off guard. Draco shook his head slightly and diverted his attention as the fingers gripped his arm firmly.

“Now,” Kingsley raised his wand and slowly began drawing a figure-eight over top of their connected arms. “Do you, Harry James Potter, swear to uphold to all of the terms written on your Auror contract—to do your best to keep yourself and your partner safe, and always do what is truly the right thing in any situation you may encounter while performing your duties as Auror?”

Harry took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in his throat before nodding. “...I swear.”

Kingsley nodded in satisfaction and turned to Draco, still moving his wand over the pair of connected arms. “And you, Draco Lucius Malfoy—do you swear to uphold to all of the terms written on your Auror contract—to do your best to keep yourself and your partner safe, and always do what is truly the right thing in any situation you may encounter while performing your duties as Auror?”

Draco felt his heart hammering madly against his ribs and unintentionally tightened his grip around Harry’s arm. “..Y-Yes...I swear...”

“Alright then,” Kingsley stopped moving his wand, and only wispy silver lines remained as evidence of the spell, wrapping and curving around the boys’ still-entwined arms. Both stared at the arms numbly as Kingsley stored his wand and turned to address the small crowd of Aurors. “Witches and Wizards of the Department of Aurors—may I present to you the newest team of Aurors to the department!”

Applause broke out in the room and Florence grinned broadly from the front of the crowd, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to the pair.

“You can let go of each other’s arms now,” Kingsley chuckled lowly as he turned back to Harry and Draco happily. “You two did well— I’m proud of you!”

Draco’s pale cheeks dusted over with crimson at the remark, and he hastily withdrew his arm with an embarrassed frown. Harry likewise retreated his arm quickly as he glanced up at Kingsley with a mixed expression. “So...that’s it now? We’re really...stuck like this together now...?” His voice sounded equal parts dread and uncertainty.

Kingsley bit back the chuckle that threatened to rise in his throat once more and clapped each of those boys on the back with a wide smile. “Don’t worry! I have all the faith that you two will do extremely well together.”

He grinned to himself as they returned doubtful stares. _I’m counting on the two of you..._

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Wow, I cant believe you guys actually went through with it and made the Unbreakable Vow...” Blaise commented seriously, his expression giving way to the honest surprise that he felt.

“Yes, I as well...” Theo murmured with a somewhat confused frown and a nod of his head. “That seems like...somewhat _drastic_ measures.”

A collective nod of heads bobbed around the table. Hermione frowned and opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to say something—then closed it again with a deeper frown.

“What is it, Hermione?” Harry asked as he directed his gaze towards her puzzled face. He could practically hear the gears turning in her head.

“Well...not that I’m any sort of expert that knows _everything_ there is to know about complex spells and such...” She trailed off seriously before continuing, and Harry saw Draco open his mouth with a gleeful smirk.

Acting before his lover could deliver what would no doubt be a clever and witty remark to turn Hermione’s statement, Harry quickly kicked Draco in the shin—silencing any retort on the tip of his tongue.

This exchange went unnoticed as everyone else had there attention directed towards Hermione with interest—whether feigned or not.

“Owww.” Draco meanwhile complained with a scowl, rubbing his shin discreetly as Hermione continued to ramble on about some theory or another that she had. “You didn’t have to kick me that hard!”

“Sorry,” Harry muttered half-heartedly. “I saw that look in your eye though. You were either about to say something mean or dirty.”

Draco narrowed his eyes accusingly. “How do you figure?”

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently. “Because. It’s the same expression that you wear whenever you’re about to insult somebody’s clothing at the Ministry—and it’s also the same expression that you make in bed when you’re about to tease me or do something that I don’t like.”

Draco’s jaw slackened in surprise, and a short stutter of disbelieving laughter escaped his lips. “W-what? Harry, that’s embarrassing...”

“Well, it’s the truth...” Harry muttered back quietly.

Suddenly Hermione stopped talking and stared directly at him, and Harry realized that she must have asked him something.

“Uh, gee—I don’t know Hermione, maybe...?” He replied vaguely, scratching the back of his neck as tried to appear as though he knew full well what she had asked him.

She sighed deeply and nodded her head. “Yes, that’s what I was thinking too. Pity though...”

Harry exchanged slightly worried glances with Draco, wondering if he should ask just what it was that they were talking about—but Pansy suddenly cut in before he could get a word out.

“Alright, alright already! I wanna hear mooore! What happens next?” She asked enthusiastically, practically bouncing in her seat in excitement.

“Excited much, Parkinson?” Draco drawled dryly, raising a blonde eyebrow.

“Oh just get on with it you bloody tosser,” Ron cut in impatiently, frowning in annoyance.

“I’ll get on with it when I very well feel like it, _Weaslebe_.”

“ _Draco_ ,” Harry warned.

“Bring it, ferret-face!”

“ _Ronald_!” Hermione chastised.

“Oh come now, can’t we just continue on with the story like civilized Gryffindors and Slytherins?” Blaise cut silkily, earning an array of scowls in return.

“You know we’re technically not related to houses anymore,” Theo interjected pointedly, earning a shrug from the Italian.

“Once a snake, always a snake,” Ron bit out, this time earning a glare from everyone at the table.

“Honestly Ron, grow up,” Harry finally exclaimed, glaring down the redhead until he finally dropped his gaze with a grumble.

“Alright, let’s continue,” He prompted his lover once he was sure that no one else was going to raise a fuss.

“Ah yes—where were we now...?” Draco contemplated with a sigh, as if having to search through his memories to think of where the story was going.

“Initiation day,” Harry huffed impatiently, drawing a smirk from the blonde.

“Ah yes, now I have it...” He paused for dramatic affect to make sure he had captured everyone’s attention before continuing the story.

“So after our initiation, Kingsley called us both to his office to have yet another meeting...”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“You two did excellent today. I’m glad everything went accordingly...” Kingsley remarked as he levitated a teapot and poured liquid into the mug sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

After the initiation had finished and the formalities were over with, Kingsley had promptly ushered both Harry and Draco up to his office—where they now awkwardly sat while they waited for Kingsley to get on with their meeting.

Harry and Draco sat on the couch across from the Minister, plastered as far away as the opposite sides of the couch would let them be. They were both tense and unsure of what would be happening next.

“Tea?” Kingsley glanced up and pushed two freshly-filled mugs across the table towards them. “You both seem nervous, this will help.”

“Thanks...” Harry murmured quietly, hesitantly pulling the mug closest to him into his hands. Kingsley nodded and turned to glance at Draco, but the blonde remained frozen and made no move to reach for his mug—staring blankly at the wall somewhere behind Kingsley.

“Draco. Are you feeling alright?”

“...Mmm?” Draco blinked and shook his head before snapping attention—glancing over at Kingsley with a slightly glazed-over expression. “...Sorry?”

Kingsley frowned slightly. “I asked if you’re feeling alright. You look pale—do you feel nauseous or anything?”

Draco frowned and shook his head again, avoiding Kingsley’s probing stare. “No...I’m fine...”

Harry chanced a glance to the opposite side of the couch and immediately quirked a brow. _Bloody hell, how come he looks like death already...?_

“Well, just let me know later how you’re feeling—can’t have you kids sick out on your first assignment tomorrow!” Kingsley managed to say brightly, drawing looks of horror from the two boys.

“Our first mission...?” Harry questioned in a tone of dread.

“...Tomorrow...?” Draco continued, his voice barely above a horrified whisper. He gave Kingsley a look that made it seem as if the older man had suggested he marry a hippogriff.

“Sir,” Harry interrupted Draco’s dumbstruck train of thought. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that we go out on our own for our first mission together tomorrow already? I mean we haven’t even trained together!”

His protests seemed to fall on deaf ears as Kingsley merely dismissed them with a smile and a wave of his hand.

“No worries, Potter. I know the two of you will do just fine...”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Alright, so let me go over this one more time.” Florence Knightly pushed his glasses up his nose slightly as he glanced at the piece of parchment he was holding. “You two, Potter and Malfoy, have been assigned by the Ministry to complete your first assignment as Auror partners together today.”

He paused and glanced up between the two before returning to the parchment.

“You first assignment is as follows. You have been tasked to a reconnaissance mission, trying to track a group of snatchers who have been suspected of illegally transporting foreign substances—including magical creatures.” Florence rolled up the piece of parchment and stared at the two boys with an uncharacteristically serious mien. “Though this is only a recon mission, it is very important that you two stay on constant alert.”

Harry nodded and glanced to his side to see Draco follow suit.

“As of now we don’t know where the snatchers’ route is, so part of your job today is to scope out this area and the ones adjacent to see if there are any signs of the snatchers, or evidence that they’ve been here,” Florence explained. “If you see the snatchers, do NOT engage. Send a Patronus message to the Auror office and we’ll meet you, got it?”

The older man stared them both in the eye to make sure they were paying attention.

“Yes sir.”

“Alrighty then, any last question?”

“Um, when do we leave?”

“Ah, good question.” Florence pulled an ornate pocket watch out of the confines of his robes and turned his head sideways to read it.

“It looks like you’ll have to get leaving in a few minutes. The Department hasn’t given many specifics of this mission, so there isn’t a required time which you need to be out or return by...” The older man stroked his mustache thoughtfully. “If It were me, I’d try to find any evidence of the group of snatchers in question and check the surrounding area—you two should probably only be out for a few hours at most. Once you’ve done that, return back here with a report on your findings.”

Again, Harry and Draco both nodded their heads—oddly quiet.

“Um. Knightly, sir?” Draco’s quiet voice broke the heavy silence that had filled the room, and Florence looked happy that one of them had finally spoken up.

“Malfoy ma boy, what is it?”

Draco paused and his pale brows drew down toward his grey eyes in an uncertain frown. “Is there...anything else we should know before we go out on our mission...?”

“Anything you should know?” Florence paused and cast his gaze up thoughtfully. “I can’t say that there’s anything specific, all the information concerning your mission was written up on that parchment that I read you...”

“Well then, is there any...advice...that your could...possibly give us...?” Draco bit the inside of his cheek awkwardly as Harry stared at him as if he had two heads, and Florence looked like he wanted gush over how cute he was acting.

“Bloody hell, to think the day would come...” Harry mumbled under his breath with a disbelieving shake of his head.

Florence ignored Harry’s under the breath comment and turned to Draco with a gentle smile. “The best advice I can give you is to stick to your instincts. I know what both of you are capable of, and you’ll do just fine if you remember your training and work together!”

Draco hesitated before stiffly nodding. “Thanks.”

“Alright now—stay safe and do me proud, boys!” Florence called off with a wave as he retreated back in the office a few feet. On the desk in front of them, a rock shaped paperweight had begun to glow.

“That’s your ride boys!”

Harry and Draco glanced at each other briefly before each placing a finger on the glowing object. Immediately their fingers were stuck to the object, and the room began to spin as the Portkey transported them.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

With a sudden ‘ _crack_ ’, Harry and Draco fell from the sky, landing hard on the ground of a dim and quiet forest.

Each took a careful look around before jumping to their feet and pulling out their wands.

As soon as he was sure they were alone, Draco released an agitated sigh and began pacing around, muttering angrily under his breath. “Bloody terrific...Hardly gave us any information, dumped us in the middle of a creepy forest, tells us to find evidence of a group of snatchers... “observe” the surroundings...”

Harry stared at the blonde with a frown. He realized that it was the first time he had actually been alone with Draco since their impromptu reunion the other day in Kingsley’s office.

“You sure keep it together in front of the important people, but now that we’re alone your mask sure has fallen, Malfoy.”,” Harry goaded, strangely happy to see Draco exhibiting characteristics that he was actually familiar with from school.

“Oh can it, Potter,” Draco bit back irritably, ceasing his muttering long enough to throw the green-eyed boy a piercing glare. “I act how I have to in front of the people that judge my standing in the Wizarding World—are you really any different?”

Harry opened his mouth for a comeback but faltered, and closed his mouth again with a frown.

“Thought so.” Draco sneered, resuming his pacing.

Harry threw a glare at the back off the blonde’s head before looking around and surveying their location. Minutes passed and Draco still hadn’t stopped pacing.

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” Harry finally asked irritably, sighing in relief when at last the blonde came to a stop.

“Thinking,” Draco snapped back shortly, turning his face up to the sky.

“ _About_?” Harry prompted, again glancing around at their surroundings. “If it doesn’t have anything to do with where to go or how to track these snatchers, then you’re wasting our time, Malfoy.”

“Oh, is Saint Potter waiting on lowly _me_ to give directions on where we should go?” Draco mocked.

“No,” Harry returned angrily, balling his hands into fists in irritation. “I just figured that it would be better if we formulated some sort of plan instead of wandering around in circles. Knightly has been gone for almost 15 minutes now and we haven’t moved an inch from where he dropped us off at.”

Draco crossed his arms over his chest and stared Harry down. “Alright then savior of the Wizarding World—what’s your plan?”

Harry sighed and bit back the retort on his tongue. “First we should figure out where we’re even at.” He glanced around yet again and found nothing but trees—tall and looming.

“I know where we are,” Draco returned cooly, glancing around for show and shrugging easily. “Laimen Forest. Not far from Hogsmeade, if I remember correctly.”

Harry frowned. “How do you know that?”

“Does it really matter, Potter?” Draco returned with an agitated sigh. “If we walk North from here we should be able to make it to Hogsmeade in about 15 minutes.”

“Why not apparate then?” Harry questioned.

“Because there are wards around Hogsmeade, Potter.” Draco explained impatiently. “It’s rare to not find a town protected by wards after the war now. At least it keeps people from apparating straight in.”

Harry nodded stiffly at the explanation. “Alright then. We should start by going to Hogsmeade—maybe we can find some clues about where the snatchers have gone from there.”

Draco rolled his eyes and followed behind as Harry began walking through an opening of trees that seemed to have a decently tamped down walking trail.

Minutes passed and nothing but the sound of crunching leaves and the whisper of a breeze filled the air. Harry walked in front, wand held loosely by his side as he kept a steady watch around for anything that might be ahead of them. Draco followed only a short distance behind, his own wand stashed away in the confines of his back pocket as he trained his focus in just ahead of Harry’s figure. So far they had been walking for closed to 10 minutes and hadn’t seen sight of a single thing—person nor creature.

Draco frowned and glanced up at the sky, and then to the tops of the trees. _That’s weird...even if there aren’t normally very many animals and magical creatures that live in this forest, there’s usually always birds that fly overhead and rest in the trees..._

“Hey Potter, I think we should—”

_SNAP!_

A sudden branch breaking stopped Draco’s line of thought, and he froze—pulling his wand out instinctively.

“Shh, Shh! Don’t move, Malfoy,” Harry suddenly hissed, squinting at something off to the side in the tree-line.

Draco obediently followed the command, wand at the ready as his grey eyes scanned the bushes rapidly.

_SNAP!_

Another branch snapped and Harry and Draco both whirled toward the direction that they thought it came from. Harry held his hand up to warn Draco not to move again. His eyes darted around until they trained in on something—a pair of red eyes staring back.

“Malfoy, that’s...”

“A Hippogriff...” The blonde whispered back tightly, not daring to speak too loudly.

The figure pranced closer to the tree-line until it emerged in front of them—gold and brown feathers glittering slightly in the dimly lit forest. It clicked its beak at them and slowly paced back and forth—eyes never leaving them.

“Why on earth would there be a Hippogriff here? They’re endangered species so all of them should be in Ministry monitored sanctuaries.” Harry mumbled with a frown. “Unless...”

“Snatchers.” Draco breathed, still frozen stiff next to Harry. “Look at the chain around its neck.”

Sure enough, though it wasn’t immediately noticeable in the dim lighting, a thin silvery chain was looped several times around the Hippogriff’s neck—the remains hanging limply and trailing behind the beast as it walked.

“There must be some sort of curse on it. There’s no way a thin chain like that would be nearly enough to restrain a Hippogriff.” Harry realized out loud, keeping a steady eye on the creature pacing in front of him. “I remember hearing about the cursed objects that snatchers use to capture and restrain magical creatures with.”

“This Hippogriff must have escaped when they were trying to transport it.” Draco nodded in agreement.

“Then if we get that chain, it’ll be evidence against the snatchers!” Harry continued excitedly. “There may even be a chance that we could use the chain to track the snatchers!”

“Wai—Hold on, Potter!” Draco hissed quickly when Harry took a daring step towards the Hippogriff. He reached out a hand to hold Harry back when he heard subsequent branches snapping. He snapped his head around anxiously towards the sounds before grabbing Harry roughly by the back of his robe.

“Potter, get your arse over here!”

Draco sprinted in the opposite direction of the Hippogriff, dragging Harry behind him, and pulled them into hiding behind a dense thicket of bushes.

“Malfoy, what the bloody hell—?!”

“Shh!” Draco clamped a hand around Harry’s mouth and sunk down to a low squat, dragging Harry down with them. Harry glared at the blonde indignantly at the treatment, but Draco wouldn’t relent.

“Over there...” Draco whispered lowly, face inches beside Harry’s. Harry attempted to ignore the feeling of the blonde’s breath tickling his ear, and tried to look where Draco was gesturing. The pair peeked up above the bushes they were hiding behind just as a group of 4 men burst out of the trees and stood in the clearing—the exact place where Harry and Draco had just been seconds before.

“It’s right there!”

“Told ya I knew where it went!”

“Well we wouldn’t have to be searching for it in the first place if you wouldn’t have let it escape, you tosser!”

“Merlin’s beard, would you lot quit arguing and just catch the thing already? We’ve wasted enough time as it is, and we’re going to be running late for our meeting if we don’t hurry this little detour up.”

One of the men produced a wand from the inside of his robes and pointed it at the Hippogriff.

“ _Stupefy_!”

The jinx hit the Hippogriff in the right wing, and it faltered—dropping down to its knees.

“Quick, you two! Grab it!” The wizard said as he aimed his wand at the Hippogriff again. “ _Stupefy_!”

This time the Hippogriff gave screech as it fell over—and two of the other wizards quickly ran over to restrain it.

“Put another chain around its wings so that it doesn’t fly off again,” The fourth wizard advised as he surveyed the other three wizards. He seemed to be the boss of the operation.

“Aye, and I reckon we outta muzzle it this time—I don’t fancy gettin’ ma fingers chomped again.”

The leader waved his hand in a “ _do as you wish_ ” sort of gesture.

The three wizards restrained the barely—conscious Hippogriff and bound it with two more of the silvery chains that Harry and Draco had seen around its neck earlier. Then, one of them produced a leather strap which they used to firmly clamp shut the Hippogriff’s sharp beak.

Draco’s breathing stilled. He could feel Harry squirming against his reach, no doubt dying to run out and intervene—but they couldn’t risk it. They were complete newbies for one, and outnumbered two to one for another. Not to mention that there was no telling what that Hippogriff might do, or who it may attack if it regained consciousness.

“Potter, stop it.” Draco grunted painfully as Harry redoubled his efforts to free himself from Draco’s hold. “We can’t take them on our own—we’ll retreat and then call the Ministry for back up!”

Harry struggled and finally removed Draco’s hand from over top his mouth.

“By that time it’ll be too late!” Harry hissed angrily. “By the time we send message to the other Aurors and get some back up here, the snatchers will already be gone and the Hippogriff with them!”

“I wanna help too—but we can’t just run out there and fight them!” Draco protested, watching helplessly as three of the snatchers used their wands to levitate the Hippogriff into the air.

“Dammit, that’s it!” Harry finally maneuvered his elbow free and quickly rammed it backwards. It connected solidly with Draco’s side and his grip on Harry released.

Harry distanced himself from Draco who lay sprawled on the ground, holding his side with a grimace.

“I knew you were always a coward Malfoy, but I had hoped that that was one thing that you really had changed about yourself,” Harry spat venomously, picking up his wand that had fallen carelessly nearby. With that he jumped out of his hiding spot in the bushes, holding his wand up as he prepared to confront the group of snatchers.

“Leave that Hippogriff alone!”

The three snatchers levitating the Hippogriff immediately froze and looked apprehensively at the newcomer.

The leader of the snatcher group looked over at Harry in surprise. “Well, well, well—what do we have here, boys?”


	6. Chapter 6

 

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Well, well, well—what do we have here boys?”

Harry stared cooly back at the snatcher, wand raised and standing his ground. “Step away from the Hippogriff. Under article 13, section 6 of the bylaws set forth by the Ministry of Magic, Hippogriffs are declared as an endangered species. As such they are—,”

“They are not to be hunted, taken as pets, or illegally sold,” The snatcher replied calmly, nodding his head in acknowledgement.

“Then why are you capturing that Hippogriff?!” Harry shot back angrily.

The snatcher placed a hand on his chest as if offended. “Capturing? No, no—you misunderstand. We saw this poor Hippogriff knocked unconscious and tangled in chains, so we came to its aid! We’re going to bring it back to our headquarters and take care of it before we release it.” The man smiled smoothly, a mischievous glitter in his eyes. 

“That’s a lie! I saw you and your goons jinx it before tying it up again!”

“Your proof?”

Harry grit his teeth. “I don’t need proof. I’m a certified Auror, and if I report you to the Ministry—,”

“Haha, how amusing...” The snatcher interrupted with a laugh, clapping his hands. “Still so naive, Mr. Potter.”

Harry flinched and gripped his wand tighter, causing the man to let out another deep chuckle.

“Oh come now—you didn’t expect me to recognize the savior of the Wizarding World? You may have grown, but I’m afraid you’re still a child....”

The snatcher paced in front of Harry slowly, speaking with an air of haughtiness.

“Uh, boss...” One of the snatchers standing near the Hippogriff coughed briefly, hesitantly trying to get the attention of their leader. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I reckon this thing is gonna wake up at any minute—so I think we oughta skedaddle.”

The leader of the snatchers hummed and nodded, remaining oddly refined and calm.

“You heard him, Mr. Potter. I’m afraid that I don’t have the time to entertain children anymore, _so_ —!”

He quickly slid his wand down from the confines of his sleeve and gave it a flick.

Before Harry could even mutter a counter-curse, he was sent flying backwards, hitting the ground hard. He groaned at the immediate jolt of pain, tasting blood. He didn’t know what sort of jinx the snatcher had used, but his body felt heavy—pain clouding his thoughts. _Gotta get up..._ He groped around dazedly, searching desperately for his wand.

“I’m sorry Mr. Potter, you’ll have to understand that this isn’t personal—I just need to make sure that you won’t follow us....”

Harry used what little strength he had and lifted his head to meet the snatcher’s mocking smirk.

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

The jinx was uttered and Harry distantly recalled steeling himself for the jolt of pain as his eyes slipped closed and darkness consumed him—but not before he saw a flash of platinum blonde. 

“My, my—now _this_ is unexpected...,” The snatcher crooned as he deftly deflected the jinx aimed at him. Draco kept his wand raised, shifting closer until he was standing in front of Harry’s unconscious body—shielding him from the snatcher.

“Little Draco Malfoy, is it? You were about the last person that I expected to show up here. How’s your father doing?”

“That bastard is none of my concern,” Draco replied evenly, forcing himself to keep from getting goaded on by the man.

The snatcher stared him down, debating if he wanted to continue the fight. Just as he began to raise his wand again, a voice from behind him started yelling.

“Boss! We gotta go, this thing is gonna wake up soon!”

The small band of snatchers were still holding the chained Hippogriff, but the creature had started to show signs of stirring.

The leader sighed and shook his head. “Things can never be easy, can they?” He stared Draco down as he called back to his cronies, not taking his eyes off of the boy. “You lot take that creature back to headquarters—I’ll catch up with you.”

“A-Alrighty Boss, if you’re sure....” The plump man turned back to the remaining group of snapped his fingers, motioning for them to follow. With a loud ‘ _crack_ ’ the man had disapparated. Three subsequent cracks were heard and the rest of the snatchers disapparated as well, Hippogriff with them.

Draco grit his teeth in annoyance at letting them get away, but he knew full well that he wasn’t in any position to take on the full group of snatchers—especially with Harry unconscious on the ground. The fact that Harry hadn’t roused from his knock-out made Draco slightly more apprehensive of the power of the snatcher in front of him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.....Naughty children should mind their own business...” The snatcher purred silkily, pacing in front of Draco slowly. His eyes drifted down to Harry’s listless form and Draco instinctively side-stepped to cover his view.

“We’re not helpless children anymore, so I suggest you don’t underestimate me.”

“Oh, _quite_ the contrary.” The snatcher laughed. “It’s exactly because I _know_ that the two of you aren’t children that I’m not going easy on you. Believe me, I’d like to get away without harming either of you, but....”

He flicked his wand and casted another non-verbal spell. Luckily, Draco had anticipated the movement and was able to deflect the spell with a quick _Protego_.

“Ah. A quick study I see.”

Draco didn’t respond, knowing that doing so would lower his guard and give the man another opening for a quick attack.

“I wonder how well you can protect yourself, though....,” The man paused, and again his eyes drifted towards Harry’s form. “...while you’re trying to protect him...?”

The comment caught Draco off-guard, and the snatcher used that opportunity to throw a jinx at Harry.

Before Draco could even move, the spell hit Harry square in the chest—the raven haired boy’s unconscious form jolting at the impact of the spell. Draco wasn’t sure what the spell had done until he saw a bright stain of crimson beginning to seep through Harry’s clothing.

“Ah. Guess I used a bit too much power. Pity,” The snatcher remarked casually.

The sight of blood caused Draco to abandon reason and he turned his back on the snatcher, running the short distance to where Harry lay. He dropped to his knees and ripped open Harry’s coat, then his button-down shirt—surveying the damage that the jinx had caused. A large gash running diagonally from Harry’s left shoulder down near his right hip was carved into his flesh—glittering drops of scarlet blood seeping out from the fresh wound. Draco’s breathing quickened and his heart hammered loudly in his chest. He knew he had to do something or Harry could die. He raised a shaky hand and quickly began to chant healing spells—his wand emitting ribbons of bluish-green light that bled into Harry’s chest. Using his other hand, Draco brought his pale fingers to Harry’s neck, checking for a pulse.

It was weak, but it was definitely there.

The snatcher watched Draco tend to the unconscious Harry with a great deal of fascination and amusement.

“Turning your back to your opponent in battle? Tsk, tsk young Mr. Malfoy,” The snatcher murmured. “I think you’re in no position to follow us now....But just so you learn your lesson, I’ll bestow a small parting gift before I leave.” He smirked and raised his wand a final time, sending a spell flying towards the two boys.

Draco was still furiously muttering healing spells, not daring to stop for fear that Harry would lose too much blood, so the spell hit them both dead on. With that, the snatcher finally disapparated—leaving the forest in an eery silence.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

The impact of the spell actually didn’t hurt that much, much to Draco’s astonishment. It had been enough to knock him over, but other than that he really didn’t feel any different. He looked down at himself and then glanced over at Harry. Neither of them looked any different either. He frowned and quickly resumed his spell chanting, his puzzlement replaced with an increasing worry as Harry’s wound still refused to mend. Draco had been casting healing charms for long enough that there should have been some noticeable difference in Harry’s condition—but nothing seemed different.

Draco surmised that the spell that Harry had been cursed with must have been some kind of dark magic that was impeding with the healing charms Draco was trying to use.

_It’s no use...I gotta get him to St. Mungo’s.....But there’s no way that I’ll be able to apparate him safely with his condition like this....._

“C’mon Potter...,” Draco groaned, his hands slowing as a wave of dizziness swept his body.

Draco suddenly felt a sharp jolt and gasped in pain—his wand falling from his hand. A deep stabbing pain had quickly begun to fill his chest, rendering him unable to remain upright. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest in agony as the unbearable pain seared into his skin like it was being carved by a knife. 

“Ahhh!” he cried out in pain, searching desperately around for his wand to try and stop the pain. He found his wand and grabbed it, fumbling and tearing at his shirt to try and see the wound that was causing the pain. He ripped his shirt open and pointed his wand at his own chest, but saw no wound. His skin was pale and bare—no different from how it normally looked.

_What? I don’t see anything...Then why does it hurt so much?!_

Draco gasped again as another jolt of unbearable pain shot through his chest and he slumped onto his back—his wand falling from his hand.

The last thing that he remembered seeing before he completely blacked out was the sky above him—clear and blue.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

Draco stopped speaking and let the ominous tone sit in the room for a bit as he took a languid sip of his coffee—all remaining eyes at the table trained fixedly on him.

“Ah, I think that’s enough of the story for now. Shall we order our food now?” he suggested innocently, hiding the wide grin that he wanted to display behind a mask of feigned indifference.

“Dracoooooo!” Pansy whined, tapping her feet on the ground anxiously. “You can’t just stop on a cliffhanger like that! Tell us what happened next!”

Blaise nodded his head vehemently. “Yeah, mate! You can’t just get to the good part of the story and then stop! What happened next? Since you failed at saving your damsel in distress, did someone else come to your aid? Or were you all alone and abandoned in the woods for days—fighting off the wolves?!” he guessed dramatically, waving his arms around in the air excitedly.

Harry grimaced at being described as a _‘damsel in distress_ ,’ but avoided commenting on it. Instead he shook his head. “Thankfully, we did not get stuck in the woods for days.”

“Shh-shush!” Draco playfully swatted his lover. “You have to bait them in suspense! Don’t spoil it!” 

Harry chuckled a bit and rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I won’t. But as I stated earlier—I wasn’t conscious for most of this part of the story, so there wouldn’t be much for me to give way anyways.” 

“Harry, you don’t have a scar from that wound now, do you?” Hermione piped up, her brows drawn down towards her eyes in deep concern.

“Ah—no, thankfully,” Harry responded with a grin. “But I’ll let Draco tell you all about that.”

“But how do we know if what he’s telling us is the truth, mate?” Ron spoke up with a frown. “If you said yourself that you were out of it, then how do you even know what happened while you knocked out?”

Harry grimaced slightly. “Welll....that was kinda what I was saying earlier about some parts of our story....”

“But I filled him in, of course,” Draco replied smoothly, raising a fine brow. “There were others as well, they recalled what had happened after they found us.”

“Ah, so you were found by somebody!” Blaise picked up keenly.

Draco scowled at the slip of his tongue. “Damn.”

“Yeah, but how do we know you didn’t lie to Harry about what happened?” Ron butted in again, narrowing his eyes at the blonde.

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but Harry cut him off before he had the chance. “Ron, honestly it’s fine. Between what Draco told me, and what the other witnesses recounted to me after I came to—I pretty much deduced what had happened and it all seemed in line with the story that Draco had recalled.”

Ron frowned but seemed to accept the answer, slumping back into his seat. 

“Well then—I’m sure you’ll spare none of the details, right Draco?” Theo quipped with a knowing smirk, staring down his friend with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Draco met the challenge with a tight-lipped grin of his own. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Excellent. Then let’s keep going, shall we?”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

“Quick, get me a stabilizing potion stat!”

“Potter has a nasty wound on his chest and it’s not closing—we need to to bring him into the critical ward right now!”

“I don’t see any physical signs of injury, but Malfoy’s vitals are dropping—fast! We need to get him on that stabilizing potion and then send him to get a full-body scan to check for signs of internal injuries and traces of dark magic—immediately.”

“On it!”

“You—I need the head of the dark magic medicinal ward down here, now! Explain the situation and tell him to meet us in the operating room!”

“Yes ma’am!”

“The rest of you—this way.”

Florence paled as he watched his two young protégées being levitated through the hallway—both boys lain on crisp, white linen stretchers. Their bodies were completely still—a stark contrast to the many people bustling frantically around them. The staff entered through a set of wide doors, and Florence knew he wasn’t allowed to follow them. He watched the two stretchers until the doors swung closed behind them, and he could see them no more. Florence sunk down onto one of the benches lining either wall of the dim, sterile hallway—cradling his head in his hand with guilt.

It had been only hours earlier that he had been sitting in his office, anxious as can be as he wondered how Harry and Draco were doing. The mission that Florence had sent the two on was rated extremely low on the danger scale. In fact, Florence wasn’t even sure that the snatchers had been anywhere near the forest that he sent them to. The mission was meant more as a mock test of how well the two worked together. Even so, Florence had taken the precaution of specifically warning the two that they were not to engage if they spotted any trouble—and clearly that hadn’t happened. Who knew that, as fate might have it, the duo would happen to stumble across a band of those snatchers?

All Florence could do was thank Draco for being sensible enough to send a patronus message back to the Ministry to him. The silvery-white cloud had flown through the air and into Florence’s office—materializing in the air in front of his desk in the form of a _snake._

_“Knightly....surrounded by snatchers—Potter’s trying to take them on...we need backup......please hurry......”_

The elder wizard shuddered at the memory of how unsettled and panicked Draco had sounded. The way that the boy’s voice trembled and his sentences broke as he gasped for air—Florence closed his eyes painfully and shook his head.

He had immediately rounded up a team of Aurors to go find the two—and upon arrival, found Harry and Draco unconscious on the ground. As expected, none of the snatchers seemed to have stuck around—and so the Aurors wasted no time racing the two boys to St. Mungo’s.

Florence had gone absolutely pale with fear when he saw the large gash decorating Harry’s chest. Though he and several of the other Aurors had tried to mend it, the wound appeared to be imbued with dark magic, and refused to close. All Florence could do was try to administer superficial first aid that would help ease Harry’s pain and try to minimize the bleeding. Draco, on the other hand, seemed relatively unharmed at first glance—there were no large wounds on his body aside from a few scratches here and there, and he wasn’t bleeding like Harry was. The only problem lay that he remained unconscious. Florence had tried rousing Draco, but nothing seemed to snap him out of his slumber. That was when the Auror then suspected that the boy must have been hit with dark magic as well—something that was keeping him from coming to.

Now at St. Mungo’s—with half of the entire medical staff up and in a tither, trying desperately to mend the two young injured wizards—Florence couldn’t tamp down the immense feelings of fear and guilt that tore at his heart. 

**Xxxx -DxH- xxx**

“Knightly....Knightly?.........Florence!”

“..Wha-?” Florence jerked his head up in surprise at the call of his name. He blinked bleary eyes and looked around in confusion—he hadn’t remembered closing his eyes for a nap.

“Florence.”

Florence felt a hand settle on his shoulder and he looked up in surprise to see none other the Minister of Magic himself—Kingsley Shacklebolt, standing in front of him. 

“Ah—Minister!” He hastily stood and smoothed the front of his robes down, doing the best he could to compose himself after being caught asleep by his superior.

Kingsley smiled slightly. “At ease, Florence—I’m here for the same reason you are.” He held his robes and sunk gracefully onto the bench next to Florence—the faint smile immediately disappearing. “I received an informal report from Eddlson about what happened—but as you were the one who received the Patronus message from young Malfoy, I’d like to hear it from you.”

Florence sat back down and shook his head sadly. “The message that Draco sent didn’t give much information—all I could tell is that it was desperate. He was out of breath and asking for back-up....he said something about being surrounded by snatchers and Harry trying to take them on....that’s all the message said, so I immediately rounded up a rescue team.” He took a breath and Kingsley nodded.

“When we got to the spot where they were at—Laimen forest—we found them both sprawled in the ground, unconscious....Harry had a pretty serious gash on his chest, and it wouldn’t close with any healing spells that we threw at it.”

“Dark magic?” Kingsley questioned with a grave face.

Florence nodded with a sigh. “I believe so...”

Kingsley muttered a string of curses under his breath that had Florence gaping slightly. “What about Draco? How long have they been in here for?”

Florence disguised his shock with a slight cough. “We couldn’t figure out exactly what happened to Draco—but he was knocked unconscious and we couldn’t wake him up. I’m guessing he got jinxed with dark magic as well.” He reached into his robes and produced a silver pocket-watch—turning his head ninety degrees to read the numbers. “I reckon it’s been close to about 3 hours now since me, Eddlson, and the gang brought the two of them in here...”

Kingsley sighed and stood up, patting Florence’s shoulder. “Alright. Thank you, my friend.”

“Please don’t thank me, Minister. This is all my fault.”

“Florence, you know this isn’t your fault. If any, it’s mine—for sending two rookies out in the field by themselves....Regardless, none of us could have predicted that something like this was going to happen. We just have to be thankful that you and the others were able to reach Draco and Harry in time and bring them here.”

Florence acquiesced with a nod, and Kingsley strode towards the front desk.

“Excuse me.”

The nurse sitting behind the desk glanced up from her pile of paperwork, and her eyes bulged slightly. “M-Minister Shacklebolt—what can I do for you?”

“I would like to know the status of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. They were brought in a few hours ago and we haven’t heard anything since.”

“Ah!—Oh....” The nurse’s expression went from star-struck to crestfallen in half a second. “Those poor boys....I believe they were sent directly to the critical ward....” She paused with troubled frown. “Hang on, I’ll check.”

The woman picked up her wand and flourished it a few times, muttering spells under her breath. Two clipboards with a hefty stack of paper on each suddenly came zooming from a hallway behind her—landing on the desk in front of her with a solid ‘ _thud_ ’. 

She peered over them, tracing a finger down the text before tapping on one particular spot. “It says here that Mr. Malfoy was sent to surgery earlier but is now resting in the critical ward, currently anesthetized. And, Mr. Potter is—...” She turned her gaze to the other clipboard and squinted, then sighed. “It says that Mr. Potter is still in surgery....” 

Kingsley sighed deeply. He wasn’t expecting to be showered with good news, but he was still trying to remain optimistic. Harry still being in surgery after the three or more hours they had been in the ward was not looking positive.

“I understand,” He relented with a sigh. “I wish to go see Mr. Malfoy for now.”

The nurse cringed slightly. “Um, I’m afraid that there’s been strict orders not to admit anybody to see the two...”

“That may be so, but I need to see them. Those two were on a mission for the Aurors and I need to discuss the information they retrieved immediately—it’s extremely time sensitive and important.” He wasn’t exactly telling the truth, but he knew that one way or another he had to get in to see them—and he really didn’t like flexing his ‘ _I’m the Minister of Magic card_ ’ unless the situation proved dire. It was heading in that direction, though.

Surprisingly, the nurse relented pretty easily. “Of course, Minister.” She almost looked relieved, as if she had secretly wanted him to go anyways. “If you’ll follow me this way...”

She stepped around the desk and gestures down a hallway.

“Florence,” Kingsley’s deep voice called, and the Auror was by his side in a second—the pair following the nurse down a long, winding hallway.

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

Several more winding corridors and an elevator trip later, the pair were gently ushered past a pair of wide doors—guarded by a stern-looking wizard on either side. The men nodded to the Minister as he and Florence passed through the doors, and the room opened up to a large space containing several beds and large cabinets that anyone would surmise would be filled with all sorts of medicines, potions, and other ointments.

The entire space, like any other hospital or medical ward, was completely stark white—and the strange scent of sanitizing potions and foreign medicines filled the air.

“Over there,” The nurse directed softly, gesturing to the last bed in a row against the wall before bowing her head and leaving the room. As the doors closed, an eerie silence immediately feel upon the room, leaving Florence with even more a sense of anxiety.

Without a word, Kingsley slowly strode over to the bed—his feet shuffling softly against the linoleum. Florence followed a few steps behind, nearly holding his breath as he finally reached the side of the bed. 

The figure that lay in the bed looked pale and fragile—face gaunt with dark circles and pasty skin that seemed almost translucent against the crisp white sheets. The only thing that distinguished it from a corpse was the slight rise and fall of his chest.

“Ah, Draco....,” Florence murmured painfully, reaching a hesitant hand out towards the boy.

Kingsley swept a gaze over Draco’s listless form and sighed deeply, taking a step away from the bed and beginning to pace—hands clasped firmly behind his back.

Florence merely watched, knowing how hard Kingsley must be taking the fall of his two newest Aurors. He still blamed himself for the mission gone awry, and staring at Draco’s unconscious form now filled his stomach and chest with even more a sense of guilt and fear. He didn’t know what he was going to do if Draco and Harry weren’t alright. In his 20 some odd years of being an Auror, he himself had only been hospitalized twice—and his longtime partner Eddison once. The first time was actually due to a flub that his partner had made while they had been training together—a spell performed incorrectly which resulted in both of them being flung into walls. Concussed, they later found out when they awoke in St. Mungo’s some hours later. Thankfully there was little recovery time that resulted from that incident—though Florence swore his chronic headaches were a result of that experience. The second time he was sent to St. Mungo’s was after a rogue dark spell had hit him while he and his partner were rounding up a gang of snatchers. The recovery time for that particular incident had been a much longer and more painful process—as he suspected would be the case for Draco and Harry.

Kingsley strode back over to Draco’s side, interrupting Florence’s reminiscing.

“Though it may be hard to accept, there’s nothing we can do but hope for the best.” Kingsley advised wisely, clapping a hand on the distraught Florence’s shoulder.

“I know....that doesn’t keep the feelings of regret away though....”

“Mmm. I understand how you feel Florence....”

**Xxxx -DxH- xxxX**

When Draco finally reopened his eyes, the color that he saw first was not the pale blue of the sky above him, but rather, a blur of white. He blinked slowly, trying to make sense of things. He heard an insistent buzzing in his ear, and he wanted nothing more than to make it stop. He maneuvered his head slowly, trying to press his ear down into the pillow.

The sudden rustling sound startled the two wizards, and they glanced to the bed in surprise as they saw Draco blink his eyes open slowly—turning his head against his pillow and scanning his eyes around to get a view of the room.

“Ah, Draco!” Florence exclaimed, tears of relief in his eyes. He knelt down beside the bed and grabbed one of Draco’s pale hand in his own two. “Are you alright? How are you feeling? The nurses here haven’t told us anything!”

“Easy, Florence. Let him breathe,” Kingsley reprimanded gently.

Draco frowned as he glanced around again. “Whe-Where am I?” He croaked with a grimace, swallowing painfully. He grunted and shifted himself into a reclined sitting position—still glancing around apprehensively.

Kingsley grabbed a glass of water that had been set on the bedside table, most likely for this exact purpose, and handed it carefully to Draco. “Easy now, you’re at St. Mungo’s,” he responded, steadying the glass slightly as Draco brought it his lips with shaky hands. “Do you remember what happened?”

Draco took a careful gulp of the cool water before bringing the glass down and holding it with both hands. “Harry and I...we went on a mission together....” He made a face as he tried to recall what had happened. “We...started walking and we saw a Hippogriff....then a group of snatchers showed up....”

Kingsley nodded in understanding, quietly conjuring a quill and parchment to take notes as Draco continued.

“I tried to tell him that we couldn’t take in that many, we were outnumbered....But he still wanted to and rushed out after he decked me.”

“Was that when you sent me the patronus message?” Florence questioned gently.

Draco nodded. “I...knew we had to get backup, so I sent you that message....I jumped in to help Harry after, but all of the snatchers took off with the Hippogriff before we could stop them....Except for one guy.” He frowned and ran a trembling hand through his hair. “That guy, I think he was the leader. His magic was really strong and Harry got knocked by one of his spells before I could do anything.”

“Did you hear him say the spell, Draco?” Kingsley asked grimly.

“No...that guy performed all of his spells non-verbally. I-I tried to fix it, but it wouldn’t mend....” Draco glanced down at his hands in his lap. “There....was so much blood—I couldn’t stop it.”

Florence’s heart jumped in empathy and he rested a hand on Draco’s back. “It’s alright now, Draco. We have a team of the best healers here—I’m sure they’ll fine a way to fix ole Harry up good as new.”

Draco glanced up quickly. “You mean they haven’t yet? Where is he?”

Florence paled slightly and his hand fell. “We’re...actually not sure...”

Kingsley sighed and stepped forward, rubbing his temples. “After Florence and his team of Aurors found the two of you, they brought you straight here and you were both taken to the critical care ward—which is where we are now. After a few hours, we were told that you were out of surgery and in here—but Harry is still being tended to.”

Draco nodded slowly, still trying to process what happened. “But why was I sent into surgery? I don’t think anything happened to me....” He glanced down at himself, turning his arms and examining for any signs of injury.

“I’m not quite sure, myself,” Florence replied slowly. “As soon as the healers took a look at you when we brought you in, they said that your vitals signs were all dropping extremely fast...Harry’s were as well, but that was attributed to the large injury on his chest...”

“You weren’t hit with any spells, Draco?” Kingsley asked.

“No, not—,” Draco was shaking his head but paused suddenly, cocking his head with a puzzled expression. “Actually, I did get hit. _We_ got hit, actually.”

“You and Harry both?”

Draco nodded. “Yeah...When Harry’s chest got slashed, I was afraid he’d lose too much blood, so I started trying to use healing spells on him...I let my guard down and we both got hit by some kind of spell.”

“You didn’t notice anything happen?” Kingsley pressed, his brow furrowing. 

Draco shook his head again, a strange expression crossing his face. “Not really.....Right after that snatcher hit us, he disapparated....which I did think was strange, but I was too relieved he was gone to think much more of it....” He paused and absentmindedly rubbed his chest near his shoulder as he continued. “Shortly afterwards though, I started getting this horrible pain somewhere in my chest—but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from since I didn’t have any wounds there. That was the last thing I remember before I must’ve passed out, and then woke up here.....”

Florence fixed Draco with a bemused expression, while Kingsley began to pace again.

“That is....peculiar....,” Florence offered, for lack of better words.

The three lapsed into silence—Kingsley continuing to pace around the small ward, his face set into hard lines. Florence watched Draco carefully, but the blonde kept his gaze fixated firmly on the sheets covering his lap—his mind drifting off into thought.

Just then a chorus of low voices could be heard in the hallway, gaining volume slightly as they approached the door that Florence and Kingsley had entered not long before.

Draco held his breath, eyes trained warily at door.

 

 

 

 


End file.
